Evanescent
by AngryOwl
Summary: Some moments in life are quick and easy, tending to fade rather quickly from memory. Other moments tend to be long and arduous. Getting struck by lightning usually falls within the former since most tend to die soon after the event. Living with the effects of getting struck by lightning definitely falls beneath the latter. Guess which one Naruto has to deal with.
1. Chapter 1

Luck was a concept that was very foreign to Naruto. His life certainly couldn't be called a lucky one. The circumstances behind his birth made that very clear. But when he did have the odd encounter with Lady Luck, she was usually in a very bad mood.

Naruto's status as an orphan would make most people automatically mark him as unfortunate. To not know the love and care of a parent is something no child should have to go through. But Naruto's situation made that pain amplified an infinite amount worse. Since the day he was born, he was hated by society. The villagers of Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves, seemed to outright hate the boy. The insults, unfair treatment, lack of attention and the rare beatings were all thrown at Naruto. Not being able to experience the love that even the other orphans managed to get was traumatizing to the young child.

Today was just another chapter into Naruto's crappy and unlucky life. An hour ago he was locked in his room in the orphanage. The room had the bare necessities for a child as it only contained a small mattress that laid against bare floor. The young child was currently sat on the mattress while staring aimlessly out the window. The strong pounding of rain could be heard as a storm overhead dumped an endless stream of rain over Konoha. The sound of the rain was the only source of entertainment that boy had as he awaited the sweet embrace of sleep to drag him away to the land of dreams, a place that was far, far away from negligent caretakers, spiteful villagers and a life with no parents.

Before he could be dragged away to sleep, two men came bursting into his room. Naruto immediately took notice of the bad intentions that were quite literally pouring from the men. The caretaker turned to the two men and shot them a knowing smile. No words were exchanged as he then walked out of the door, closing and locking it in the process.

"Oh I am so going to enjoy this." One of the men said. Naruto started to slowly crawl back as the men started to walk towards him. Naruto's eyes widened as he felt his back impact against the wall. He looked up and saw the two men staring at him with a predatory look in their eyes. Tears started to pool into Naruto's as he tried to come up with ways to stop the unavoidable.

Without any warnings, the boy took off at speeds too fast for his age towards the window. Before any of the adults could move, Naruto sent himself launching head first out of the window, breaking it on contact as he was launched into the storm. The boy instantly regretted his actions as the realization that his room was located on the top floor of the orphanage came to him once he looked down. Unfortunately for the blond, it was too late to turn back as he went went plummeting to the ground.

Naruto slammed mercilessly into the ground, his body making a wet smacking sound as it impacted against the water soaked earth. A cry of pain left his lips as he felt several bones crack at the impact. Though with the threat of the two attackers still at the forefront of his mind, Naruto forced the pain away from his mind, crawled to his feet and began to limp away from the orphanage for the last time.

After several minutes of painful walking, Naruto had managed to walk into the village's center. To his left stood the Hokage tower. There worked the Hokage, the strongest ninja in the village, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen was probably the one person in the village that could claim Naruto's trust since the man was one of the few who showed the boy any type of care. The Hokage tried his best to support Naruto while juggling his job of restoring Konoha back to it's former glory after the Kyuubi attack. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do much for the child. He couldn't always be there for him and this fact was known to the villagers.

All around him stood the shops and stands of the people who hated him. These were the same ones that tortured and abused him. In the village he loved, the village he grew up in, he was surrounded by nothing but people that hated him. That hurt the little boy's hurt. But not as much as what happened next.

Now statistically speaking, the chances of ever getting struck by lightning in anyone's lifetime is 1 in 12,000. The chance of getting struck by lightning in a year is 1 in 960,000. Now the chance of ever getting struck at any living moment is 1 in 8,987,657. Now it would take a very unlucky person to get struck by lightning ever. Fortunately for lightning and unfortunately for Naruto, he was just unfortunate enough to meet those standards.

Naruto felt the lighting before he heard the thunder. The first telltale sign was the air around him seemed to literally electrify. When he looked up, he saw a white streak that was coming straight towards him. Before Naruto could even move, the lightning hit him head first. The boy felt his body locked up as 500 mega-joules was forced into his body. The boy's muscles were burnt to a crisp as they were overloaded with an insane amount of energy. Even with the healing powers of the Kyuubi, the boy's body was left a burning, spasming pile of flesh as he collapsed down to the ground.

The steady pounding of rain did little to soothe the pain the boy was feeling. He wanted to scream out in pain but the damage done to his vocal cords were too much for them to operate properly. All he could do was cry and hope that unconsciousness would soon take away the pain.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi led a very exciting life. He had met and personally befriended the first, second and Fourth Hokage. He had fought through 3 great shinobi wars. He had become Hokage, retired and then became Hokage again. No one could say to him that he hadn't lived a fulfilling life

But the one thing that always bothered him was a boy named Naruto Uzumaki. Hiruzen was there for Naruto's birth and since that day he knew that he would be a special boy. But as of lately, he has doubted his earlier judgment. Naruto's potential seemed to have been snuffed out by the villagers.

Hiruzen walked out of the Hokage Tower, taking some time away from his desk to stretch his old joints. He had stayed overnight in an attempt to overcome is infinite amount of paperwork. He had managed to make a sizeable chunk in the work, an act that he felt should be awarded by a quick walk.

The man's first stop was the village square due to it's proximity to the Hokage tower. There, he would be able to speak and interact with the greatest amount of villagers. It warmed his old heart to be able to interact with the people he worked so hard to protect.

Though to the shinobi's surprise, a large crowd had formed in the direct center of the square. Curiosity and a sense of duty made Hiruzen immediately made his way over to the crowd. As soon as the citizens noticed their leader's presence, an opening formed within the crowd. The Kami of Shinobi made use of the rift and rushed his way to the center of the crowd of people.

To the man's shock, the thing that had captured the citizen's attention wasn't some interesting landmark or a wandering magician. No, it was much worse than that. Lying at the center of the crowd was the damaged form of Naruto Uzumaki. The boy's body had healed enough to make him recognizable to the shinobi but it was obvious his body had underwent some type of extreme trauma.

"ANBU, Get me Asuma." The emotions in his voice was almost palpable. The man's voice was a mixture of desperateness,anger and sadness that was unheard of from the shinobi. Even though the emotion, the ANBU seemed to get the message as two flickers could be seen speeding away in the distance.

"Who is responsible for this?" Hiruzen's voice came out as a strangled growl as he attempted from outright screaming at the people before him. His knowledge of the village's general opinion and treatment of the boy made it hard for him to not instantly accuse each and every one of them for causing Naruto's condition. His position as a leader and a unbiased role model was one of the few things holding him back.

The villagers took a step back in fear due to the anger present in their leader's voice. They weren't used to seeing this side of the old man. They were used to the gentle, docile, loving father figure that they could see wandering around the village every day. It was clear that the person in front of him was not that same person.

Fortunately for the citizens and Hiruzen's reputation, Asuma arrived, his arrival serving to dispel some of the tension that had made its way into the crowd. Hiruzen, no longer trusting his mouth, simply gestured to Naruto's injured form. The younger shinobi's eyes immediately locked onto Naruto and there was no hesitation in his action as he dashed towards the boy and scooped him up in his arms. Without a single word or warning, the young man took off with the blond in his arms.

"ANBU!" Hiruzen yelled once he was sure that his sony was heading in the direction of the hospital. Immediately, several shinobi wearing animal masks flickered into existence behind the Hokage. Their presence only served to unnerve the civilians even more.

"Take each person present here in for questioning. Do not release any of them until Anko AND Ibiki are sure that none of them had any part in that boy's injury." The scowl of the man's face served to silence any protest that the civilians would've had at the man's decision. The ANBU, forever loyal to their leader, offered a silent sign of acceptance as they began to carol the citizens, allowing Hiruzen to slip away from the square to the hospital.

* * *

Operation Room 9 was rather infamous among shinobi. It was a room specially outfitted for the use of high level shinobi like the Sannin or the Hokage. The doctors that were assigned to work in this room were heralded as some of the greatest in the elemental nations. Only someone of Tsunade Senju's status could claim to be better.

The unfortunate aspect of the room was it's reputation. The room was known as the last living place of the First Hokage, Second Hokage and Fourth Hokage. Of course, the injuries the trio suffered made it almost impossible for them to be treated but the superstition of the room being the "Kage's graveyard" was well-known and believed amongst Konoha Shinobi.

Operation Room 9 was currently where Naruto was resting. With no instructions from his father, Asuma could only assume that the man would've wanted Naruto to receive the best care possible. So he took the boy to his father's personal doctor. And this is where we find the father-son duo.

"What can you tell us, Hijomi-san?" Hiruzen's question was addressed to a man dressed in typical, blue hospital gowns. His face showed the obvious signs of ages as it was covered in wrinkles and spots. Tiny specks of blood decorated the man's attire as he pulled off the gloves covering his hands. A small sigh left the man's lips as he deposited the gloves in a trash reciprocal before locking eyes with Hiruzen.

"I'm not going to lie to you Hiruzen. I wasn't too sure what to do with the boy when I arrived. Most of the external damage done to his body had healed up, most likely due to his prisoner. Internally though, a phenomenon had taken place." The man started off as he led the duo into the operation room. The father and sony immediately made their way over to the operating table where Naruto was still resting.

"The best way to explain it is that the boy's body has become electrified. I hypothesized that the boy was either struck by some type of lightning technique or he was struck by lightning itself. I personally believe its the latter considering just how much of an effect its having on his body. The cells in his body are releasing an insane amount of energy in the form of a static charge which is making it hard for us to get an accurate reading on his condition." Hijomi finished as he allowed Hiruzen and Asuma to inspect the boy.

"When will he recover?" Asuma was the first to speak the thought that was being shared between himself and his father. After several seconds of silence, the duo turned to face the doctor and were upset to find the man had a sullen look on his face.

"I'm sorry to say that we are unsure of that at the moment. The boy is currently in a vegetative state. It seems that whatever had hit him overloaded his brain function and has sent him into a coma. We aren't entirely sure when he'll wake up or if he even will wake up." Hijomi's revelation only served to upset the duo. Asuma's head found its way to his hands as the young man tried to cope with the fact that his little-brother figure could potentially be brain-dead. Hiruzen could do nothing but glance forlornly at Naruto as his mind once again filled with guilt and regret at the boy's condition.

"Kami, why did this have to happen? Hasn't this boy suffered enough?"

* * *

When consciousness returned to the boy, Naruto immediately noticed the fact that he couldn't breathe. He immediately scrambled up to his feet, coughing and gasping in the process as he attempted to regurgitate the dirty sewer water he was just lying in seconds ago. The boy continued to sputter and cough for several seconds before finally observing his environment.

"Where the heck am I?" The boy's thought was pretty appropriate considering the fact that he was pretty sure he was in a sewer. The walls around him were circular as they curved and met at the ceiling. Running along the walls were a countless number of pipes that seemed to stretch for miles. A light blue glow emitted from the pipes while small amounts of electricity danced along it's exterior.

"I don't remember what happened." He muttered to himself as he walked over to the sewer's walls. He tentatively reached out with his hand to inspect the electrified pipe. The boy was caught off-guard when the electricity from the pipes seemed to latch onto his fingers.

"I … I don't understand." He couldn't help but mutter as watched the electricity continue to flow into his body. The thing that confused him the most was the fact that the experience didn't hurt. It actually made him him reinvigorated. He felt lively and rejuvenated. It was the best that he ever felt.

" **So I have a visitor."** Naruto couldn't help but almost jump out of his skin as the smooth, booming voice came from behind him. The blond turned around and immediately noticed that his scenery had changed. The curved wall that was previously behind him was nowhere to be found. Instead, the sewer now seemed to extend into a massive room. The walls of the room were covered in one massive sealing array. The array an electric blue color that ironically seemed fitting considering the fact that sparks could be seen emitting from the pattern.

Though, all of these details did not matter to the young child. What really caught his attention was the massive gate that stood at the end of the room. The bars that made up the cage were as thick as five men and as tall as the Hokage tower. And stood behind that gate was one of the most monstrous creatures Naruto had ever laid eyes on.

From his first glance, Naruto knew immediately what this creature was. It was hard not to considering Konoha's annual Kyuubi festival and history lessons. The beast was just as terrifying as the written descriptions made him out to be. His form was massive, his body taking up the full height of the cage. The steady, rhythmic exhaling coming from the beast was strong enough to almost blow Naruto off his feet. The beast's eyes were locked on to the much smaller form.

"K-K-Ky.." Naruto could barely articulate as he locked eyes with the beast. An indescribable fear clutched onto his heart as he felt his legs collapsed under him. He had never been so shocked in his life and it was showing.

The Kyuubi seemed to be amused by the boy's reaction as the beast released a booming laugh. The volume of the laugh shook the beast's cage and the sewer walls themselves. Naruto was forced to cover his ears lest he go deaf from the laughter.

" **My first visitor in years and he is too scared to even speak. How amusing**." Despite it's size and reputation, the beast's voice could be described as smooth. His words sounded like they belonged to someone of the upper class. It was a harsh contrast that Naruto was finding very difficult to overcome.

"I...I… How are.." The situation was just too much for the young child to comprehend. Standing before him was the beast that the Fourth Hokage had vanquished. Everything he had taught was being torn apart by the tailed beast in front of him.

" **Worry not child. We will have plenty of time to get you an understanding of these current events. But don't be mistaken. My words are not those of a friend. They are those of a predator simply waiting for their prey**."

* * *

The crisp autumn air told of the passage of time since Naruto had entered into his coma. The boy had been transferred to a much more comfortable patient room where his condition was being constantly measured by the numerous machines he was connected to.

Hidden away from the visible eye, several ANBU were stationed in each corner of the room. Under specific instruction from the leader, these shinobi vigilantly watched over the young child. They had been given free range to use the full extent of their powers to make sure no more harm would fall upon the boy. No matter what their opinion of the child was, their honor bound duty as a shinobi made sure that they did their job well.

Throughout the two months of Naruto's condition, his amount of visitors had been limited to a mere three people. These three people were Hiruzen, Asuma and, of course, Hijomi. The doctor was tasked with performing daily check-ups on Naruto while Hiruzen and Asuma would visit periodically.

All in all, Naruto's life and those surrounding him had become pretty mundane. Though today, those same people would find that their lives were about to take an interesting shift.

" **Your struggle is as amusing and pathetic as the rest of your species**." Naruto couldn't help but sigh at the sound of the Kyuubi's voice. The boy collapsed to the sewer floor and would've gotten soaked if the water beneath him hadn't morphed to form a rudimentary chair.

"I was for sure that I was going the right way." He mumbled to himself, an act that earned him a laugh from his prisoner. The fox leaned it's maw against the bars of the cage as it glowered down at Naruto.

" **I've already told you. You can't simply waltz out of this place. You are trapped here into your body finds it fit to release you. You're a prisoner to your own body. How ironic considering our current roles**." The tailed beast couldn't help but find pleasure in the blond's sadness. Ever since the child had originally arrived in his mindscape and learned what had happened to him, he had been attempting to escape. Unfortunately, the concept of a coma didn't really register in the child's mind. He couldn't simply will himself away from here no matter how hard he wanted to.

"Shut your mouth, stupid fox. You said that this is my mind. I can do whatever I want." The boy's childish comeback did little but amuse the fox even further.

" **Oh, please do continue your struggle. You idiocy has turned out to be a giant source of entertainment for me.** " Naruto paid the beast no mind as he clenched his eyes close. The words of the tailed beast meant nothing to him as he strained his childlike imagination into imagining himself out the seal.

"Wake up, Wake up, Wake up." The child began to mutter repeatedly to himself. At first, like his many attempts before, the boy was met with no results. But ever so slowly, the child's mindscape began to react. It started off with a subtle, almost unnoticeable quaking that went undetected by both Naruto and the Kyuubi. As time progressed, the shaking grew strong enough to catch the attention of the tailed beast. The kitsune could do nothing but watch on with apparent interest as the water surrounding the child began to levitate. Miniature arcs of electricity danced along the floating water.

"Wake up, Wake up, Wake up." The boy's voice only grew louder as the water around him grew more turbulent. The Kyuubi was forced to take a step backwards as the bars to his cage became charged with arcing electricity. The beast was left shock as the boy's form became covered in electricity. Seconds later, a loud thunder crack rang through the entirety of the mindscape as a lightning strike appeared out of thin air. The lightning honed onto Naruto as it traveled down towards the boy within the blink of an eye. Before either of them the react, the lightning struck Naruto, blasting the boy, literally and figuratively, from the mindscape.

" **Hmmm … I guess the child proved me wrong**."

* * *

"Contact the Hokage immediately!" The inside of the room Naruto was occupying was absolute chaos.

Just moments ago, things had been just as calm and mundane as they had been for the past two months. Hijomi had inspected the boy and reported an increase in the boy's mental activity, a fact that served to please the ANBU as that meant they were closer to finishing the assignment. Past that, nothing interesting had taken place.

That had all changed when the machines Naruto was attached too started to beep erratically. One of the ANBU immediately signalled for Hojimi to be alerted just as the child's body began to spasm uncontrollably. All the shinobi could do was stand by helplessly as the boy's spasming grew more and more erratic.

Things grew even more out of control when the machines' peeping grew louder. Before any of the ANBU could react, each of the machines simultaneously went up in flames. At the same moment, a large, visible amount of electricity began to pour from Naruto's body. The sheets surrounding him were instantly disintegrated as the sparks coming from the boy grew more and more intense.

"I'll restrain the child. Alert one of the staff members!" The cat masked ANBU yelled as they flickered into existence. The shinobi quickly approached the boy, making sure to avoid the wreckage of the hospital in the process. Unfortunately, the ANBU didn't make it far as an arc of electricity leapt from Naruto's body at blinding speeds and struck her in the chest. A loud crack of thunder resonated through the room as the shinobi was sent flying into a wall.

"Cat! Shit." The dog masked ANBU yelled as he sprinted over to his fallen comrade. The man was completely ignorant to the fact that the boy he was charged with protecting was now levitating off the bed. The ANBU was too focused on his injured comrade as he scooped the fellow shinobi into his arms and quickly flickered out of the room.

The man's decision came not a second too late as the arcs of lightning coming from Naruto grew to outstanding intensity. The electricity carved massive holes along the interior of the room as the glowing of Naruto's body began to reach. The boy's skin turned a blinding, brilliant blue just as a shockwave of electricity emitted from his body.

When Hiruzen arrived at the hospital, he wasn't greeted by the gentle, caring and loving atmosphere the building and it's staff usually possessed. He was greeted by mass chaos, fear, and a building with a massive chunk of it missing.

"What in Kami's name is going on here?" The Hokage couldn't help but question as he watched civilian and hospital staff alike rush around in a wild panic. In the distance, he could see a squadron of his own shinobi rushing to the scene to attempt to restore order to the hospital.

"Hokage-Sama!" Hiruzen turned and watched as one of his most trusted ANBU, Dog, landed before him. The man's uniform was dishevelled as he sucked in uneven gulps of air.

"Dog. What happened? Where is Naruto?" He questioned. Dog sucked in one last breath of air as he attempted to reign his breathing under control to answer his leader.

"He's in the room. He was t-" That was all Dog got to say as Hiruzen took off towards the remnant of Naruto's room, leaving the ANBU all to himself.

"-he cause of this.." Dog finished just a bit too late.

" **Earth Release: Earth-Shaker!** " Hiruzen shouted just moment before the rubble surrounding the hospital shifted away. The man released a curse as the technique revealed yet another pocket of nothingness. It had been already been several minutes into his search and he yet to find any sign of his blond ward. The panic he was feeling only seemed to continue the longer he spent searching.

"I can't lose him." The old man muttered to himself as he attempted to search for Naruto's chakra signature. Before he was able to stretch the technique to its full extent, several yards away the rumble exploded upward in an explosion of chakra and electricity. Without any hesitation, Hiruzen immediately dashed towards the site of the explosion.

"Naruto-kun!" The Third Hokage yelled in relief as the boy came within his view. The child laid in the middle of a pile of rubble, his body containing not a single scratch. He was groaning as he slowly propped himself up on his elbows, confusion clear on his face.

Hiruzen wasted no time in making his way down towards the confused child. With a quick leap, the He kneeled down to the boy's level and attempted to help him to his feet only to be greeted by an electric shock from the child.

"...This is odd." Hiruzen couldn't help but note as he attempted to make contact with Naruto once again. Just like before, a small bit of electricity leapt from the boy's body and literally shocked him. The Hokage would've spent more time inspecting the new development if it wasn't for the fact that his ANBU had arrived at his location.

"Hokage-Sama. The area has been contained and order has been restored. What are your orders?" The ANBU asked and were promptly ignored as Hiruzen's full attention was on Naruto. The boy released yet another groan as his eyes slowly fluttered open. He quickly began to examine the area around him, his eyes taking in the massive amount of destruction, before eventually landing on Hiruzen's form. At the sight of the old man, a wide smile graced the boy's face as he uttered his first words in two months.

"I'm awake now, Old man."

* * *

 _ **AN: Hello! This is the official remake of "Boy Struck by Lightning". Now, I'm going to lay down some ground rules for this story. Updates will be sporadic. There is no planned schedule. I will update when I feel that a chapter needs to be released. Second, this story will follow SOME of the plot that was shown in BSBL. Of course there is just some stupidity in the original that I have to cut out. Third, Kurama won't be such a generic high-school jock prick bitch like he was in the original. Some of his insults and comments were so cringe worthy that it hurt for me to read over them again. This chapter is a good example of how Naruto's and Kurama's relationship will be and eventually evolve.**_

 _ **Other than that, not really much to say. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review or pm me with any comments, concerns, questions, suggestions, etc. Go to my profile for crap. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your day.**_


	2. Chapter 2

A return to normalcy was a thing most people wanted after experiencing a traumatic event in their life.. After all, it was in our nature as humans to seek some sense of comfort in normalcy. We tend to plan things out in advance and when those plans don't work out, we find ourselves lost, confused and unconsciously wanting things to return to normal.

Naruto was not having that feeling at the moment. The one thing that he didn't want was things to go back to normal. Ever since the incident with the hospital, life couldn't have been better for the child.

After he had been cleared by both Hijomi and Hiruzen, Naruto had been released from the hospital. But instead of returning to the hospital, he had been led to the middle-class district of Konoha. To his utter shock and happiness, the Hokage had presented him with his own house.

In all honesty, calling the place a house was going slightly overboard. But to the boy, it was the equivalent of a mansion. The simple, one-story home had all the necessities for a young boy like himself. A simple living room that opened into a simple kitchen with a simple bedroom that included a simple bathroom. But what was simple to others was extravagant to Naruto. He couldn't of been happier with the home.

Naruto could be found in the backyard of his home. The boy was in an intense staring contest with a strong looking oak tree. From an outside perspective, it looked as if Naruto was trying to burrow a hole into the tree with his eyes. And to be honest, that wasn't too far from the truth.

" **Instead of staring at it, why don't you just ram your head through it?** " The sudden voice had caught the child off-guard but he quickly managed to regain control over his nerves.

During Naruto's comatose period, he was trapped within in mindscape with only one person … eh thing to keep him company. And let it be known, the Kyuubi was not someone you would consider good company. The Tailed Beast spent their time together insulting and ridiculing the young child. The fox didn't care about the boy's age or relative innocence. It held nothing back as it verbally assaulted Naruto throughout the entirety of the comatose period. And now it seemed that the fox's insults had followed him outside the seal.

"Just shut your mouth, you stupid fox." Naruto mumbled to himself and the fox. The tailed beast released a mocking laugh before going silent, an act that Naruto was grateful for as it allowed him time to focus on the task ahead of him.

Tree climbing. A simple chakra exercise that was essential for the advancement of any shinobi. Naruto was currently trying to overcome the hurdle that was learning said technique. He had managed to catch a glimpse of a few shinobi using the chakra technique and had instantly wanted to do the same. His childlike mind had worked out the fact that the technique most likely included the usage of chakra and a tree but that was as far as he got.

"Do I just … push it into my feet?" The blond asked himself out loud before he followed through with the thought. He could feel his legs tense up as a rush of chakra washed over them. He took a few tentative steps around, attempting to test walking under the effects of chakra. After several steps, the boy seemed satisfied as he took off running towards his nemesis, the tree.

Just as one would expect if they had any knowledge of chakra control, Naruto's was met with bad results. As soon as his foot touched the tree, he was sent rocketing backwards as his chakra exploded against the wildlife. The grunt the boy made as he hit the floor was drowned out by a thunderous slam as the top two thirds of the tree fell to the ground.

"Uh-oh …" Naruto said out loud as he looked at the now bisected tree. The once whole tree was now in two pieces with one of those pieces now laying several feet away.

"Did I do that?" He asked himself as he glanced between his foot and the fallen tree. While he was slightly disappointed that he had failed to tree walk, his childlike curiosity couldn't help but be fascinated at the fact that he managed to split a tree in half just by tapping it with his foot.

The boy quickly climbed to his feet before walking over to one of the still standing trees in his small backyard. He reached the tree before glancing down to his feet and back up to the tree. In order to sate his curiosity, he began to channel chakra back towards his feet except this time, he forced a lot more into them. Once he had reached an acceptable amount, he slowly raised his foot then pressed it gently against the tree's bark and waited to see what would happen.

* * *

Life hadn't been easy for the man, but the 3rd Hokage could safely say that today was one of his better day. He had actually managed to get some rest the night before, Asuma had been somewhat cordial with him during breakfast, Konohamaru hadn't attempt to assassinate him, the stream of paperwork was relatively slow and his back wasn't aching as bad. Yes, the day was going rather swell.

Another thing that made the day better was a young, blond child that went by the name of Naruto Uzumaki. The boy had been cleared from the hospital several days ago now and it warmed his heart to see the young child running around again. The weeks spent watching the boy in the vegetative state had ate away at his heart. The amount of guilt that had been set on his shoulders had been tremendous during those weeks. The child's health had been a burden he had taken upon himself after Minato's and Kushina's death. To know he had failed them so badly had made him feel closer to death than ever before.

That feeling had been mostly relieved when Naruto woke from his coma. While most would be affected by being unconscious for so long, the blond seemed to bounce back almost immediately. The happiness and joy that always seemed to pour from him was still there. His smile was just as bright and his behavior was as hyper as ever.

That attitude only seemed to amplify when he revealed to the child that he had granted him an apartment. The decision to give the boy such a massive responsibility came rather easily for the Hokage. After a little bit of investigation, it wasn't that hard to come across a newly repaired window in Naruto's room in the orphanage. Once that was found, it wasn't too hard to come to the conclusion about what had happened. The caretaker quickly received one of the worst reprimanding that had ever been given in the history of everything. Hiruzen had left the woman a shaking, quivering, sniffling pile of flesh. And he felt not a single ounce of guilt from it.

So all of that brought him here. Reluctantly but efficiently working through the stacks of paperwork that were sat on his back. While he was sure that he would've been much happier taking a calming stroll throughout the village, he was still happy to be able to accommodate the needs of the village through the paperwork.

That was why he had been slightly off guard when he felt a small tremor shake through the village. Now let it be known, within a ninja village, there was bound to be aspiring shinobi practicing various earth style techniques the confines of the villages. Depending on the strength of technique, small quakes were usually felt close to the training field.

This one was different. It was strong enough to actually shake the foundations of the tower. Within an instant of the tremor being felt, the ANBU hidden in his room made themselves known as the surrounded the aging Hokage. The man, himself, had already began to mold chakra in preparation to fire off a technique at a moment's notice.

"Any report of the source of the disturbance?" Were the first words that came out Hiruzen's mouth. The man's tones were deadly serious as he stretched his limited sensory abilities to the max in order to gauge the state of the village.

"No reports as of yet. Owl is reporting that there seems to be no visible attacking force. Order in the village is still in place. ANBU are currently checking the borders and interior in order to find the source of the attack." The cat masked ANBU who was standing by Hiruzen's commented while a Katana rested within their hand. Hiruzen offered a single nod before disappearing from the room in a quick shunshin, leaving his four guardsmen to play catch-up.

The Hokage appeared on top of his tower, his robes flapping in the slight autumn winds. The man's eyes were narrowed as he scanned over the entirety of the village. From his position, he had one of the best view points possible. The only place that would've served its purpose better would be on top of the Hokage monument.

It was just like Cat had reported with not a single invader or invasion force in sight. He could spot some slight chaos within the market district of the village but it seemed that ANBU were quickly taking care of that. He could see the blurs of his own ninja dashing across the rooftops of the village as they scanned the village for any possible threat.

" _How peculiar. I don't sense a single foreign chakra source within or past our borders. No attacks, no invasions, no summons …_ " He rattled off to himself as he continued to scan over the village.

Out of the corner of his eyes, a small plume of smoke caught Hiruzen's attention. The man quickly redirected his attention to the smoke, taking note of its location as his ANBU arrived on the rooftop.

"Hokage-Sama." The trio commented as the kneeled behind their leader. The man said nothing as his eyes stayed trained on the smoke. His silence continued on for several seconds before a silent sigh left his lips.

"Help the other ANBU in calming down the citizens. I can handle myself from here." The old man commented. Behind him, his ANBU shared a look between themselves before nodding and rising to their full height. One by one, the ANBU disappeared within their various shunshins, leaving the Hokage on the roof alone.

"Naruto…" The man sighed out before disappearing from the roof in a burst of speed.

* * *

"I … I think I used too much." Naruto muttered as he stared at the aftermath of his 'experiment'. The tree that had been his unwilling test subject had been completely obliterated. Not a single remnant of the plant remained. Everything from its base to its roots had been removed from the output of Naruto's chakra.

Behind the tree's original resting place, a large trench had been carved, most likely from the blowback of Naruto's chakra. The trench seemed to stretch for over fifty feet and was several feet wide, completely making its way past the boundaries of Naruto's backyard.

"I don't think the old man is going to like that." The blond said as he attempted to stand to his feet. Attempted was the optimum word as the boy immediately collapsed back down to his feet. The boy released a yelp as his legs began to spasm uncontrollably.

"What the hell is happening?" He exclaimed out loud as he watched his legs kick and writhe around. The boy was helpless as small amounts of static electricity began to pour from his skin. The hem of his pants quickly burned away as the fiber caught aflame from the spark.

A loud exclamation came from his lips as his pants quickly set on fire. The boy frantically reached down and striped himself of his pants as the garment started to burn even more. He tossed the burned pants several yards away before attempting to regain control of his legs.

"Why can't I move my legs?" The boy asked with a large amount of fear creeping into his voice. He still had feeling in them yet whenever he tried to move them in order to stand back up, they would continue to spasm out of his control. To his young adolescent mind, this situation was absolutely frightening.

The blond was forced to suffer through the muscle spasms for several long minutes before his body finally burned off all of its excess chakra. Once the chakra had been expended, the boy's muscles relaxed greatly as he regained control of them. Too shocked and frightened by what had just happened to him, Naruto sat there motionless, too scared to even move. It was only as the burning smell of his own pants reached his nose that he managed to snap himself out of his fear induced trace. He immediately shot up in a panic as the fire began to spread across the dry grass within his backyard.

"Oh crap!" He yelled as he took off running towards his house. He came bursting through his backdoor, grabbing a bucket in the process as he continued his mad dash towards his kitchen. In a singular smooth motion, he punched the lever to the sink and placed the bucket directly under the faucet. As the water started to feel the bucket, the blond glanced worriedly between the slowly growing fire within his backyard and the slowly filling bucket.

His impatience running thin, the boy quickly grabbed the half filled bucket of water and dashed back to his backyard. The fire had indeed spread, much to his confirmed fear. With a quick and silent pair, the boy threw his arms forward, sending the contents of the bucket splashing onto the small patch of fire.

To the boy's horror, the water only managed to subdue the fire momentarily. Within seconds, whatever effect the water had seemed to have had been nullified by flames. Heartfelt panic set within him as his mind tried to come up with a way to save his backyard.

"Kyuubi, what should I do?" Naruto naively asked the great beast. The young child had already exhausted his only option and instinctively latched onto the only source of help he could find. Unfortunately, the Kyuubi had absolutely no intentions of granting the boy its help.

" **Sit back and enjoy the flames, child**." The beast's words offered no reassurance to the panicked child. The fire had really started to pick up as a plume of smoke began to drift upwards into the air. With no other option in mind and his only source of advice having no intentions of actually helping, the blond child froze.

"Water Release: Downpour." The child's fears were instantly put to a rest as a literal downpour of water came splashing down onto the scorch down. The flames and embers were put to a rest as the chakra-aided water overcame it.

"Why am I not surprised to find that you're the cause of all this trouble?" Naruto's heart instantly rose at the sound of the voice. He quickly twisted around and looked up at his roof. Standing on top of the boy's roof with a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips was one Asuma Sarutobi.

"Asuma-san!" Naruto yelled as the man jumped down from his position on the roof. The blond took off running towards the man, much to the shinobi's amusement. Just before the child could run face first into the man's legs, Asuma stepped to the side, allowing Naruto to go face first into the ground as he tripped over his own momentum. The man had to hold in a laugh as he watched the boy push himself up off the ground, his whole entire front covered in dirt and grass as he glared up at him.

"What the hell was that for? I'm all dirty now." The young boy yelled as he stood to his feet. His protests were quickly silenced as he got a blast of water to the face courtesy of the man he was just yelling at. The unexpected blast threw him off balance as he went stumbling backwards, but unlike before he managed to right himself before he could fall down to the ground.

"That's not funny!" The now cleansed boy shouted as Asuma once again attempted to stifle his laughter. The shinobi managed to overcome his battle with his own amusement as he gave a short shake of his head before walking over to the blond.

"Its pretty funny to me. Now stop being such a brat and come over here." The former guardian ninja spoke, earning him a pouting look from child before he began to slowly make his way over to the older man.

Asuma and Naruto's relationship could be considered brief in the grand scope of relationships but it was one filled with emotion and sentimental value. For the first five years of the boy's life, Asuma hadn't been present. His obligation to protect the Fire Daimyo prevented him from being involved. Eventually, after getting over his admittedly petty disagreement with his father, he had returned home to the news that his old friend, Minato, had left a child orphaned in his death during the Kyuubi attack.

Admittedly, at first, he had only felt a small pang of pity at the news and nothing else. His laid-back attitude made sure that it was a very rare occurrence that he get involved in other people's lives. His time with the guardian ninja couldn't even change that.

But after seeing the child come bursting into his father's office with a happy-go-lucky expression plastered across his face spouting about his dreams of becoming Hokage, that tiny bit of pity had sprung into a much deeper emotion. Due to the child's seemingly close relationship with his father, the two ran into each other a lot. And with each meeting, his interest increased further. That interest, fueled on by a sense of duty to his friend and his own curiosity concerning the villager's new jinchuuriki, eventually led him to speaking with the boy.

Their first meeting hadn't gone spectacularly well. Even though the child had seen him speaking with his father on several occasions, he was still untrusting. He had been told to basically fuck off the first time they talked. Instead of being turned off by the insult, his interest only seemed to increase.

Eventually, he broke through whatever barriers the child had erected around himself and found a place within the blond's inner circle. In all honesty, the boy was unique. His was a borderline brat, which was surprising considering his treatment within the village. His happy attitude was a stark contrast to how the rest of the village felt about him.

Naruto had finally managed to make his way over to Asuma, snapping the man out of his thoughts. He looked down at the younger male and took notice of his current state. His water jutsu had only managed to blast away the first layers of dirt from the boy's body yet still some clung to his body. His pants were completely gone and the hem of his shirt was slightly charred. Yet, despite all of this, a blond's happy-go-look disposition was still following him. It was one of the many things that made the kid special.

His gaze switched over to inspect the yard and he was immediately taken back when he noticed the massive trench in the yard alongside a single tree trunk. The trench wasn't just a simple hole in the ground but was several meters long and wide.

"You've been having alot of fun back here, haven't ya?" Asuma asked as he redirected his gaze back on Naruto. Just like any other child his age, Naruto took on a bashful look at being caught so easily. Asuma chuckled at the kid's reaction before placing a hand on top of the blond's head.

"Don't worry about it. All you did was put the village in a mass panic by making everyone think we're being invaded. No big deal at all." Asuma's sarcastic tone hit Naruto hard as the boy's head fell at the man's comment. Asuma's laughter turned into a full laugh at the blond's reaction before merrily rubbing the boy's hair.

"Seriously, brat, no need to worry. I'm sure my dad won't mind." Asuma said, bringing Naruto's head back up. The twinkle had returned to the boy's eyes, bringing a small smirk to the older man's face.

"Asuma. Why am I not surprised that you had some part in this?" Both of the male's attention was captured by the sudden voice that had intruded on their private moment. They both turned their head to the entrance of the backyard and were surprised to see that the very man that had been talking about was now standing at the entrance of the backyard.

"Hey, I didn't have any part in this. I showed up and the boy didn't have any shorts." Asuma raised his hands defensively at his father's accusations. Naruto, on the other hand, wasted no time in sprinting over to the Hokage. He slammed face first into the man's legs as he wrapped his arms around the lower section of his body.

"Old man! What are you doing here? I've been working on my chakra techniques. Did you see Asuma was here?" The boy rattled off question after question as he stared up at the older man. From his position across the yard, Asuma couldn't help but laugh as his father was assaulted with question after question.

Hiruzen stood silently as Naruto asked his questions. Some people would be bothered by the boy's excitable behavior but he had long since grown use to the child's excitable behavior. To other it was annoying, to him it was endearing.

"Slow down there, Naruto. I can't answer any of your questions if you don't give me a chance to talk" The old man finally spoke after allowing the spoke to speak for over half a minute. His words immediately shut the child up, prompting the Hokage to continue in his speaking.

"Now to answer your first question, I came here partly because of that little fire you started up and that tree that USED to be in your backyard. Mind telling me what happened to it?" The boy's face lit up an instantaneous blush at being caught so easy as he turned his head to avoid the Hokage's knowing stare. The embarrassed look only seemed to last for a second as Naruto's excitable demeanor took over.

"I was practicing some of the cool ninja technique that I saw some of the shinobi doing and I think I messed up." The boy's voice slowly dropped in volume towards the end of his sentence as he glanced at the remnants of the tree he had been practicing on. He was about 99 percent certain that the tree wasn't supposed to blow up when you walked on it. There was, of course, always room for a little bit of doubt.

Hiruzen also glanced at the tree and began to wonder just what technique the boy had been trying to reproduce. Most technique that was capable of producing that level of destruction was usually practiced in isolated training grounds where they went unnoticed by the general public.

"Damn kid, what technique were you trying to pull off that caused this plus a mini earthquake?" Asuma just so happened to voice his father's thoughts, just with a much more coarse language, earning him a sharp glance from the man. The shinobi shrugged at the agitated look while directing his attention back onto the blond.

"I was trying to walk on trees!" The young child proclaimed, prompting Asuma and Hiruzen to share a confused glance. Tree walking was a technique that was taught to most entry level shinobi and it usually resulted in a couple of different of results. Some tended to immediately fall off the tree due to a lack of chakra. On a rare occasion, some managed to actually make their way up the tree either due to their small chakra reserves or an unnatural control over their chakra. In an even rarer occasion, some managed to muster up enough chakra to blast themselves off the tree, leaving a footprint within its bark. For most low level ninja, this was pretty difficult to accomplish due to their relatively lacking chakra reserves.

Naruto was a special case. With his combined genetics coming from Minato and Kushina, the boy was blessed with abnormally large chakra reserves. Those reserve are only amplified by the fact that the nine tailed fox dwells within his body. So technically speaking, it was possible that an inexperienced young child with an unknown but definitely large sized reserve of chakra, could cause that much damage. The idea was frightening but also very intriguing to the two shinobi.

"Tree walking? Damn. I didn't think that much damage could be done from just tree walking.' Asuma once again voiced the thoughts of both shinobi. Hiruzen let out an annoyed sigh at his son's language before returning his attention back to Naruto.

"We'll focus on your tree walking later. I'm sure Asuma would be happy to teach you it." From the side of his eye, he could see the incredulous look on his son's, causing him to inwardly smirk as he continued to address the blond. "But for right now, it looks like you could use a new set of clothing. Why don't I take you to get some clothes while Asuma fixes up this mess?" The blond's face instantly brightened up while Asuma's expression fell.

"Yes! Can we get some clothes like the cool ninjas have? I want those stars and knife that they throw around. Oh, I need a sword too!" The blond was happily jumping around as he listed the countless number of ninja supply that he needed. Asuma and Hiruzen shared a single glance before the Hokage began to guide the young child out of his backyard, his mouth continuously rambling on the entire time. The two eventually disappeared into the confine of the blond's house, leaving Asuma to deal with the destroyed backyard.

"Kami, I wish I was Tenzo right now."

* * *

Naruto flopped limply onto his bed as an exhausted sigh escaped his lips. The sun had long since set and the only light in the room was the small amount of light his hold desk lamp was providing.

At the foot of the boy's bed were numerous scrolls, sets of clothing and books. The Hokage had treated the blond to a long day of shopping that involved taking the boy around the entirety of the village. It was during this trip that Naruto got a first hand display of the type of respect the old man got from the villagers. Whatever shop he entered, the owner would drop almost everything they were during to greet him. The amount of admiration and respect within their eyes didn't dissipate a single bit throughout the Hokage's visit even when they laid eyes on him. The experience had been a very eye opening.

"I'm going to be just like the old man when I grow up." The child mumbled into his pillow as he clung onto the sheets of his bed.

" **Your childlike delusions are usually mildly entertaining but after a full day of listening to your senseless prattle with that decrepit old fool, I wish for you to shut your mouth**." Kyuubi's voice resonated through the child's head, causing Naruto to roll his eyes. The blond used his arms to push himself off of his bed picked a set of clothes.

"I'm so glad that I convinced the old man to get me some orange clothes." The blond said out loud as he held onto the pair of burnt orange. It was actually more of a carrot orange but he thought burnt sounded much color. The shirt that came with the pants was a black, flexible skin tight shirt that melded perfectly onto his upper body. It highlighted his lithe, young frame while allowing him a large range of movement. The material it was made of felt pretty strange but apparently he needed to wear it.

That was another thing. Apparently all of his clothes needed to be electron free or something like that. Honestly, he hadn't been paying much attention when the old man had been explaining it to him so he couldn't really say much.

Naruto reached down to grab one of the scrolls the old man had given him. They were called storage scrolls and apparently if you added chakra to them, you could store a lot of stuff in them. He decided to test this theory out by unfurling the piece of parchment and pumping a TINY amount of chakra into it. Another thing he had learnt during the day was moderation when it came to using his chakra. Everything didn't need to be supercharged.

To the blond's surprise and glee, a small puff of smoke emitted from the scroll, just like the old man had described. When the smoke clear, it was revealed that a set of wooden kunai and shuriken were sitting on the scroll's surface.

"I wish I would've gotten real ones." The blond pouted to himself as he picked up the wooden tool. He had tried his hardest to convince the Hokage to get him the metal ones but apparently he wasn't old enough or responsible enough to have them yet.

"Hmph, I'll show him who's respon-" The blond was interrupted by the loud sound of glass shattering. His hand immediately wrapped around the handle of one of the wooden kunai as a large rock rolled to the foot of his bed.

With speed that was unusual of someone his side, the boy dashed over to the now broken window that occupied his side wall. In the distance, he could see and hear a small group of villagers walking away, their laughter resonating through the night as mentions of a demon exited their lips.

The boy's eyes narrowed as he stared at the back of the villagers. Unconsciously, his grip around the handle of the kunai increased as the temptation to throw it grew. From within the confines of the seal, the Kyuubi watched curiously as it's container remained still.

" **Hmm, just what are you going to do, child? These people have destroyed your property and insult you. Are you going to let them just walk away after doing such a thing**?" The beast's voice played against the blond's thoughts as he watched the villagers grow further and further away. His grip around the kunai had grown to a point where the tiny wooden blade had begun to crack and splinter.

With a final huff, he relinquished his hold on the ninja tool, allowing it to fall to the ground where it shattered like the glass from the window.

"I'm not going to be like them. I told you, I'm going to be just like the old man. The old man doesn't hurt his own people. His people like him. And people are going to like me one day just like they like him." The boy said partly to himself and partly to his prisoner. Behind the bars of his cage, the tailed beast let out a dejected grunt while lowering his head down onto his paws.

" **You're a fool, boy. A stupid, ignorant foo** l."

"I know you are but what am I?" Was Naruto's childish response.

" **...** " The childishness of the boy's words seemed to catch the beast off guard, leaving him completely speechless.

"Exactly."

* * *

 _ **AN: Hello! Here's another chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it. Not really much to say. Review or private message me with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, etc. View my profile for info. Enjoy the rest of your night everyone.**_

 _ **P.S: Holy fuck, thats a lot of favorites and follows. Glad the following from the old story has decided to continue their support. Thank you everyone.**_


	3. Chapter 3

The Konoha Academy. Without a doubt, the number one ninja training institute within the borders of Fire country. Contrary from popular belief due to its status as such a high quality institution, there were only three qualities that one had to possess to get accepted into the Academy.

One. You must love the village of Konoha and hope to preserve peace and prosperity.

Two. You must have a mind that will not yield and be able to endure hard training and work.

Three. You must be healthy in mind and body.

" _This is so stupid_." Naruto couldn't help but think as his teacher's voice carried through the classroom. The child was sat in a regular wooden desk and was surrounded by children of a similar age in similar looking desks.

The blond glanced down at the piece of paper sat on his desk and had to immediately hold in a grimace at its content.

"Stupid numbers and stupid letters." The blond childishly whispered below his breath as he glared down at the paper. This was not what he had been expecting when the old man had announced to him that he had signed him up for the Academy. He had been overjoyed during the initial announcement. From what he saw being a ninja involved walking on walls, blowing fire out of your mouth, saving nations and being a badass hero who everyone respected.

The Academy was none of that. Actually, it was the exact opposite. They were already several weeks into the school year and they hadn't done a single nina-like thing. They hadn't walked on walls, they hadn't breathed fire and they didn't even use chakra yet! All they had done was do stupid math stuff and stupid reading stuff.

" _This is sooooooo boring_." The blond internally whined to himself while letting out a small grunt. The grunt caught the attention of some of the less focused students around him. The confused looks they sent him did little to curb his behavior as he began to impatiently squirm in his seat.

"Uzumaki Naruto." His squirming was put to a quick stop as his name was said out loud by the teacher. Now, every student's attention was split between the man and the small child as they awaited the blond's response.

"Yes?" The blond asked in a neutral tone. The blond had stopped his squirming and was now staring the older man in the eye.

Iruka Umino. One of the newest teachers within Konoha Academy and Naruto's teacher for the next few years if he somehow managed to get past the mind numbingness of math and history. The first day the duo had met had been rather awkward. The man had tried his best to be unbiased towards the container of his parents' killers but found it rather hard when he had to stare him in the face everyday. His actions came off as awkward and forced which immediately drew Naruto's suspicion to him.

"Do you want to explain why you can't seem to sit still? Are you about to pee yourself or something?" The teacher's comments brought a few chuckles out of the surrounding students who were quickly silenced by a hard glare from the man. After silencing the snickering kids, he quickly redirected his attention back to the blond.

"Well?" The teacher questioned after several seconds of silence from the blond. The man was attempting to stay as unbiased as possible but was finding that task to be extremely difficult due to the blond's rather rude silence.

While Naruto had remained outwardly quiet, an internal debate had been roaring inside him since the moment the man had directed the class' attention on him. The young boy couldn't help but feel agitated at Iruka's action. It was bad enough that he was having trouble paying attention and be called out on it definitely didn't help. Being laughed at by your classmates definitely didn't make him feel any better.

"Why should I answer you, Ponytail-sensei?" Naruto shot back. The blond's comment brought a few chuckles out of the surrounding children and served to irritate the hell out of Iruka. Luckily for the sake of his professionalism, he managed to hide his irritation with a small cough and a straightening of his posture.

"Because I am your sensei. And as your sensei, you will address me with the respect that I deserve." Iruka fired back, completely silencing any persisting chatter within the room. The classroom fell into dead silence as the students awaited the blond's response. What Iruka had said left little room for reply but if what their parents said about the blond was true, the boy would find a way.

"You don't deserve my respect. All you've done is talk about stupid, pointless history and numbers. I bet they made you a teacher because this is the only thing you're good at. You probably can't even fight. I'm probably even better than you." The blond spat out with a surprising amount of childish venom. Literal gasps erupted around the room at the daring comment the boy made. The class' attention immediately shifted back over to Iruka to gauge the man's response.

Eerily enough, the teacher did not respond immediately. His face remained a mask of apathy for several seconds before a single word left his mouth. But when he did talk, his words almost threw the class into a frenzy.

"Would you like to back your words up?" Now it was Naruto's turn to perform a double take due to the man's words. That was definitely not the response he had been expecting.

"What?" The boy couldn't help but question after such an outrageous response. Iruka stood from his desk and settled his hands on it's surface while directing his gaze at Naruto.

"You said that you're probably even better than me at fighting. Would you like to prove that, you brat?" The man spat out through clenched teeth. All pretenses of remaining calm had seemingly disappeared as the shinobi looked second way from leaping over his desk and starting the fight himself.

Naruto blinked in shock as the teacher's words registered within his head. He couldn't exactly tell if the man was being serious. If his clenched fist and angry tone was anything to go by, the teacher was deadly serious.

Now, any sane human being with an ounce of intellect would immediately be able to figure that fighting a shinobi when you're only two weeks deep into the academy was an absolutely terrible idea. But we aren't talking about a sane human being. We were talk about an adolescent boy filled with young childhood bravado and pride. And that pride would not allow Naruto to back down.

"Hell yea, I'll prove it!" He yelled at the top of his lungs while shooting up from his desk. Silence followed his proclamation for several seconds before Iruka turned his attention to the shocked students.

"Everyone, report to the sparring area. We're holding an impromptu match." The children, who had been sat at their desk all day listening to the man speak, didn't need to be told twice as they immediately jumped from their seats and took off running out the classroom. Soon, it was only Iruka and Naruto left in the room.

"I'm going to kick your ass, Ponytail-sensei!" Naruto shouted quickly before leaving the room, rendering Iruka the only one left inside the classroom. WIth his students gone, the man seemed to visibly tense up even further before stomping after his students.

* * *

By the time Iruka had reached the sparring circles, the man had managed to calm himself down a great amount. The irrational anger that had seized his mind was now gone and all that remained was logical reasoning.

"J _ust dodge and grapple. He's a child. No need to do anything extreme._ " The man repeated the statements over and over in his head as he stood a across from an obviously energetic and excited blond. The boy was bouncing from foot to foot while throwing mock punches at the empty air around him. The outer ring of the sparring circle was surrounded by students who were idly chatting among themselves while waiting for the match to begin.

"He's just a kid. An irritating, annoying, dumb kid but still a kid." Iruka muttered beneath his breath while glancing at the oblivious Naruto.

In the blond's mind, a completely different type of conversation was taking place.

"I'm going to kick his ass. He doesn't even know how bad he messed up. The Old Man is going to be so happy when he hears I beat up a chunin!" The blond mentally spoke to himself as he skipped around the ring, throwing punches at the air. He was a hundred percent confident that with the practice he had been doing alone would be enough to help him overcome the older male.

"Are you ready?" The blond was snapped out of his pre-fight ritual when Iruka's voice reached his head. He turned to face the teacher and saw the man standing in a loose stance with his hands in his pockets.

"You're damn right I am!" Naruto exclaimed before settling into his own stance. Iruka had to raise an eyebrow at the obviously bastardized stance. At first glance, it looked like an exact copy of Guy's Strong Fist starting stance. But if one paid close enough attention, they could pick up the abnormalities such as the looseness of the child's fist or how flat his feet were.

"No way Guy had been teaching this kid. He would have at least been able to settle into a proper stance if that task trainer of a man had gotten his hands on him." Iruka mused to himself as he continued to observe the blond. "Must've picked it up from spying on the man." He concluded to himself.

"Can you start the fight already or are you too scared?" This time it was Naruto's voice that snapped the teacher out of his thoughts. The man felt a small amount of irritation flare up in him at the child's words and the idea of not taking it easy on him passed through his head. That idea was quickly pushed away seconds before the man spoke.

"I'm not the one trying to prove something. You make the first move." The man's tone along with his relaxed stance only served to fire the blond up as he took off charging. A loud bout of yelling accompanied the action as the boy crossed the distance between himself and his teacher.

" _Pretty fast for his age_." Iruka couldn't help but observe as the blond ran towards him. The boy was obviously untrained as any traces of the Strong Fist style had disappeared the moment he took off running. He looked as uncoordinated and untrained as the drunk brawlers were.

"Take this!" The blond yelled as he threw a punch at the man after finally crossing the distance between the two. Iruka almost had to roll his eyes at the boy's shouting before lazily dodging the punch. The action didn't seem to deter the child as he threw another punch that was met with similar results.

This dance continued on for several minutes with Naruto throwing a combination of punches, kicks and even a few headbutts that were all lazily dodged by the more experienced man. As the match continued on, the blond's agitation became more and more palpable as his actions became sloppier and sloppier.

"Sit still or fight back!" Naruto yelled as he threw another punch at the man. Iruka sidestepped the telegraphed punch while sticking his foot out, allowing the younger male to trip over it and be sent tumbling to the ground head first.

Naruto couldn't help but growl as the sound of his classmates' laughter reached his ears. He quickly scrambled up to his feet, shaking off the grains of dirt that had managed to latch onto his body while directing a harsh glare at his sensei.

"You bastard!" Naruto charged even faster at the man, his fist raised and his intent clear as he closed the distance between the two. Unfortunately for the blond, he was met with similar results as before as Iruka easily dodged his strikes before sending the boy down to the ground.

"Do you want to give up? I think my point has been proven by now." Iruka stated as he watched the boy lay face first in the dirt of the sparring ring. From his position on the ground, Naruto's hands clenched together into a fist as anger began to fill his body. Unconsciously, the boy began to tap into his chakra reserves as he sprung back up to his feet.

"You haven't see anything yet!" With those words, the blond took off once again. Iruka had to raise an eyebrow at the noticeable speed shift the child's movement had taken. It was still nowhere close enough to where he would have to push himself to keep up but it was still impressive for someone his age.

Like before, Iruka easily dodged Naruto's initial punch since the move had been so telegraphed. The blond always started off his encounters with the same heavy, predictable haymaker which made it rather easy for the man to avoid it.

What Iruka didn't expect was the blond to suddenly stop on a dime and send a quick jab at his stomach. He was able to overcome his shock and jump out of range of the boy's attack before it could do any damage.

Naruto didn't allow the man any rest as he once again swiftly covered the distance between the two and began to rain down a hail of uncoordinated punches and kicks at the man. Each kick was fueled by the blond's frustration and chakra as he began to pump the life energy into each of his movement.

Iruka had to give it to the child. There was one thing that could be said and that was that the blond was tenacious. He had never seen someone so young fight with so much tenacity. While his movement speed and technique were nothing beyond his years, the blond's strength and endurance was frightening. Iruka had been focusing on blocking or redirecting most of the blocks attacks and could actually feel the effects behind the hits. His forearms, hands and wrist were starting to grow slightly numb as he focused more on dodging and less on trying to block.

" _The kid sure can pack a punch_." Iruka mused to himself as he deftly and easily weaved his way around Naruto's attack. He could tell that his actions were only making the blond angrier as the boy's punches became more and more erratic.

"Sit the hell still!" Naruto screamed out loud before attempting a spartan kick off of his back foot. Iruka was able to easily evade the kick before deciding to send his own punch at the boy to test the blond's dodging abilities. The speed and strength behind the hit was a little above what was to be expected out of a fresh academy student. The boy had shown that he could go above that level so Iruka had expected him to dodge.

Unfortunately for Iruka, he didn't realize just how unpredictable Naruto could be. Instead of dodging the punch, Naruto took the hit in stride, allowing it to only turn his head to his side while he threw an anger and chakra fueled punch of his own. Iruka, being so caught off by the boy's action, knew he didn't have enough time to dodge the hit so decided to catch it.

A loud crack echoed through the air as soon as Naruto's fist met Iruka's palm. The chatter that had once accompanied the sound of the two males sparring had instantly disappeared. A noticeable limpness had overcame Iruka's arm, making clear just where the snapping sound had come from. The man's face was twisted into a mask of shock and pain as he stared down at his now broken limb. The pain endurance built up from his shinobi career allowed him to hold in a yell of pain but his face displayed his real feelings.

Naruto looked equally as shocked as he stood a shaky step backwards from the man. He could feel his arm began to shake erratically, similarly to how his leg had reacted only weeks prior. He quickly grabbed onto the out-of-control limb as he met eyes with Iruka.

Teacher and student met eyes and one took notice of the other. Naruto could sense the pain the older male undoubtedly wanted to release but refused to in front of his students. Iruka could sense the panic in the boy's body as he unsuccessfully attempted to stop the erratic twitching of his arm. Within a mere second, a silent agreement was made with each other before Iruka took charge.

"Okay, class. That is the end of the lesson for today. You are all dismissed. Be prepared to participate in your own mock-sparring matches." The man tried to appear as cheerful as possible through the pain he was feeling. His announcement was met with worried glances as the students couldn't help but notice the odd angle that his arm had taken. Nonetheless, the prospect of having almost a half day overcame their worry for the man as they slowly dispersed from the field.

It was only once that all the students had evacuated the field did Iruka allow himself to release a small hiss of pain as he gingerly clutched onto his arm. Naruto watched in a small mixture of worry and fascination as the chunin quickly procured a scroll from his waist pouch. With a quick swipe of his hand and some chakra, the content of the scroll was revealed to be a two long pieces of wood and some medical wrap. Within several long seconds that involved a lot of grunting and hissing, the man had functioned himself a makeshift splint.

"That should do for now." The man muttered to himself before looking over at his only remaining student. The blond looked worse for wear as he stared back at the older man. His right arm was shaking at an irregular speed as the child attempted to calm it down. Obviously, that wasn't normal.

"I think it's best that we both go see a nurse."

* * *

"There's seems to be nothing wrong. All of your scans have come back clear so as of right now, you're free to go." The nurse's words sent a jolt of happiness through Naruto as he hopped off of her observation table. He flashed the exhausted woman a bright smile before quickly making his way out the office.

By the time Naruto and Iruka had gotten to the nurse's office, his muscles spasms had calmed down considerably. The blond had wanted to leave the office immediately in fear of retribution from his teacher and questioning from the nurse but was stopped by Iruka. The man had been rather insistent on the boy getting checked out by the nurse. The man had even forced the blond to sit in on his own examination just to make sure the boy wouldn't run off.

"He probably wanted to yell at me for breaking his arm." Naruto thought to himself before glancing down to his arm. He honestly hadn't expected to tap into his chakra to that extent and hurt Iruka. His anger had fed into his chakra reserves and made him use more force than necessary. The feeling had been the exact same when he had attempted tree climbing. Seconds before his fist slammed into Iruka, he could feel every muscle within his arm almost bursting with energy.

"That would be a real cool attack if I didn't start shaking whenever I used it." The child's face scrunched up in confusion as he attempted to find a way around his 'technique's' drawback. Unfortunately for the blond, his childlike mind couldn't even wrap itself around how the technique worked in the first place so all he was met with was frustration.

"Naruto!" The boy was brought out of his frustration but the sound of his name being called. He turned towards the sound of the voice and was caught off-guard to see his sensei, now equipped with a proper sling, slowly jogging his way.

Panic quickly filled him as the urge to flee overcame his senses. He would've went along with the feeling if Iruka hadn't managed to close the distance between the duo before he could make the decision. Now with the man up close the boy knew he was trapped.

Iruka readjusted his sling as he stood in front of his younger charge. The boy looked like he was seconds away from running away which was pretty understandable to the man. When he was younger, he would of been just as panicked if he had broken his teacher' arm. Especially after instigating a fight with the man.

"Look, you're not in trouble. I just wanted to talk with you before you left out." The man' words didn't seem to ease the blond as he still looked like he wanted to get as far away as possible from the man.

"Nuh uh, you're lying. You probably want to beat me up because I broke your arm." The boy yelled before taking off running. Iruka shouted out for the blond but his words fell upon deaf ears as the boy continued to run. The man debated running after the child but ultimately deciding against it. He was the kid's teacher so he could only avoid him for so long.

Naruto stood within one of the many back alleys of Konoha, hunched over, sucking in huge gulps of air as he attempted to catch his breath. His lungs were burning from running all the way from the hospital to here. His fear of Iruka's retribution had been his main fuel the entirety of his sprint.

"School is going to be even worse now.'' The young child groan to himself as he finally caught his breath. His stood to his full height, immediately taking notice of how crappy his environment was and decided it was best for him to return home.

After checking to make sure he looked somewhat presentable, Naruto quickly exited the alley. He immediately appeared into the market district of Konoha which was bustling with activities. Hundreds of people were walking about, yelling randomly into the air in search for their coveted items. Parents could be seen leading their children around the district, buying them different snacks and treats to sate their appetites. All in all, it was a sweet site that could be commonly seen amongst the hidden villagers.

To Naruto, though, he didn't see a marketplace full of families but a thriving hunting ground full of potential prey. His could almost feel his fingers become stickier in his pockets as he began to bounce lightly on the balls of his feet.

Almost like a ghost, he disappeared into the sea of people. The boy was like a phantom, floating from victim to victim, swiftly and agilely reaching into pockets and pulling out whole wads of ryo. His actions went unnoticed by most except for the few ANBU stationed among the few rooftops lining the marketplace. The only thing that was saving Naruto from being apprehended and having to face the Hokage was his status as the Kyuubi's container.

The blond reappeared outside the crowd, his pockets almost overflowing with ryo as he began to sprint home. Soft giggles left his lips as he fantasized about all the ramen and ninja equipment he could buy with the money he made(stole).

The boy was so deep into his fantasies that he didn't realize that someone within the crowd had spotted him. The someone's recently awakened dojutsu allowed her to keep track of the blond until he was a full kilometer away. It was only when the boy reached the outer limits of her eye's range did the mysterious girl allow her focus to return to guardian.

* * *

It had been a full week since the sparring incident and Naruto's life at the academy had managed to settle back to being somewhat normal. Contrary to his belief, Iruka hadn't started to single him out and be mean to him. If anything, the man seemed nicer than ever to the blond child. The cordial behavior only served to put the boy on edge but he attempted to enjoy it for now.

One negative thing that bothered Naruto was the fact that everyone in the class treated him dangerously now. After the children put together the fact that he had broken Iruka's arm along with the fleeting whispers they heard from their parents at times, they began to behave differently. They looked at him with a mix of wariness and fear, something that Naruto really didn't want to be looked at it with. It made him feel isolated from everyone else. It made him feel strange.

"Class, you're dismissed for today. Enjoy your weekend and be prepared to start learning post First Hokage Konoha when we come back." The man's voice sent the surrounding kids into a frenzy as they all rose from the seat and began to make their way out the classroom. Naruto was amongst these students as he quickly attempted to shove his way through the mass of pubescent boys and girls. During his attempt, his eyes briefly met with Iruka's as the man looked over his crowd of students. The two held their gaze for several long seconds, no words begin exchanged in the process, before Naruto looked away and his forced his way through the classroom doors.

"Finally! Sweet freedom!" The blond couldn't help but yell as he made his way out of the academy. Surrounding him were hundreds of students feeling the exact same way as they began to disperse, some looking for their, others returning home by themselves.

Naruto was among the latter group as he began to slowly make his way from the Academy building. He didn't enjoy staying behind for too long and watching the rest of his classmates getting picked up by their parents. The scene brought a fresh pang of hurt to the orphan's heart that he rather avoid if he could.

Unfortunately for the blond, he would be halted on this due to someone tugging unexpectedly on his sleeve. The boy looked down and was surprised to see the large, white eyes of the Byakugan staring back at him.

"I know you." The girl's statement almost flew completely over Naruto's head as he was too busy observing the young girl. If her eyes wasn't a dead giveaway, the blue shirt with the Hyuga clan patch on it gave away the girl's heritage. Her long black haired was styled in a ponytail with a single lock of hair managing to escape across her face. Her expression was set in a stoic mask as she kept a firm hold on Naruto's sleeve.

"What?" Naruto couldn't help but question as he attempted to snatch his sleeve out of her grip. To his surprise, the girl managed to resist the tug and keep her grip on his clothing.

"I saw you. In the marketplace. You were stealing from people." The girl returned in a monotone voice. Her voice wasn't accusing yet it still somehow put Naruto on edge.

Naruto couldn't help but curse himself for being caught so easily, especially by someone younger than him. He prided himself on his ability to evade even ninja so to have this little girl completely blow his cover was a hit to his childlike pride.

"Stupid Hyuga and their eyes." The blond couldn't help but think to himself before redirecting his attention back to the young girl. She was still staring at him with an expectant look in her eyes and didn't look to be anywhere close to releasing his sleeve.

"Why did you steal from those people?" The girl questioned. This time, her voice contained a hint of curiosity as her grip on his slip seemed to increase. The blond only hesitated for a mere moment on whether or not to answer the question before opening his mouth.

"Because I want to and can. I need the money and they seem to have plenty to give away." Naruto replied. His reply was met with a narrowing of the girl's eyes as she took a step towards him.

"Stealing things that aren't yours is bad. If you need something, you should ask your guardian. My guardian gives me whatever I ask for." Naruto blinked owlishly at the rather privileged answer that had came from him. An internal debate on whether to be outraged or amused by the statement waged within his mind. A tie was the result of the battle as Naruto released a small chuckle while violently tugging his sleeve from the girl's grip.

"Life doesn't work that way, princess. Not everyone gets everything they want whenever they want like you. Some people actually have to work for it." Naruto commented before turning on the spot and beginning to walk away. He only got several steps away before the girl's voice halted him in his tracks.

"Stealing stuff from people isn't working for it. You're just a common thief. A lowlife. My father warned me about people like you." He didn't know why but the girl's comment set something off in him. He had heard similar things like that before from some of the older villagers but it had never affected him as deeply as now. He could feel the anger within him building up as he turned to face the girl, his fist clenched his anger as he directed a harsh glare at her.

"What do you say to me, you annoying little bi-" The blond's insult was interrupted when he felt a hand land against his shoulder. He turned to look and immediately came eye to eye with another pair of Byakugan eyes. These ones belonged to a boy that looked slightly older than Naruto and contained much more experience than the young girl's did.

"Excuse me. I would advise you to close your mouth before you insult one of the Hyuga heiresses." The boy's voice was a stoic as the girl's as he directed his own glare at the blond. Naruto was rendered silent as the older male stepped around him and took the younger girl's hand within his own.

"I apology for losing track of you, Hanabi-Sama. I promise not to allow it to happen again." The boy said to the now revealed Hanabi before offering the girl a deep bow. He slowly came up from the bow before shooting Naruto a harsh glance before beginning to lead the girl away from the blond. Before the duo could completely get out of eyesight of the boy, Hanabi managed to stick her tongue at Naruto before disappearing into the crowd.

"...What the hell just happened?"

* * *

 _ **AN: Here is the third chapter of Evanescent! And with this chapter comes the introduction of our dear little Hanabi. And with her introduction, comes the introduction of the pairing! Yes, I will be keeping it a NarutoxHanabi pairing. It was such an integral part of the original that I can't bear to take it away from the viewers.**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. PM or review with any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, etc. Have a nice day.**_


	4. Chapter 4

There's a saying that goes a little something like this: Curiosity killed the cat. Well, curiosity must be pretty damn persistent since cats supposedly had nine lives. Both of these sayings were merely words meant to teach some kind of lesson. They weren't meant to be taken serious.

Though if you were to ask any shinobi about the credibility of the second phrase, they would wholeheartedly agree with it. How could they not when they had their own resident cat who just didn't seem to die? Tora the cat, pet of the wife of the Fire Daimyo and resident pest of Konoha, was said cat. Ever since the current Daimyo came into power, Konoha ninja had been tasked with catching the feline. Generation after generation of shinobi had been given the task with retrieving Tora and each team eventually came to the conclusion that something was wrong with the animal. The cat had better hiding skills than most shinobi. Its claws were sharp enough to send whole genin squads to the hospital. And for some odd reason, the cat never died. The Daimyo had been in power for several decades and the cat had been present during the entirety of the time. The animal should've at least slowed in its old age but even that hadn't occurred. A running rumor amongst Konoha shinobi was that the Daimyo's wife regularly strangled the poor animal by accident and got a look-alike replacement periodically.

Contrary to the rumors, Tora was the same old cat from all those years ago. Why did it have such an unnatural longevity, she did not know. All she knew was that she hated her easily excitable owner and the forceful way she treated her. Everyday, she was subjected to rough petting and overly tight hugs. She ran away so often just to get away from the woman's death grip. But no matter how well she hid or how far away she went, she would always eventually get caught by an annoying group children. Though, she usually managed to throw the kids off her trail for a couple of hours, allowing her a small amount of freedom from her borderline abusive owner.

The kid in front of her, however, was not as easily shaken as the others. The cat had spent the better part of an hour trying to throw the blond brat off it's tail, but was met with no success. The child managed to keep up with her, even when she entered the more dense forest areas that surrounded Konoha's border.

"Why is he so persistent?" The cat thought to herself as she attempted to catch her breath. Yes, she could think and no she wasn't part of some summoning class. She was just a simple cat with an annoying owner.

Stood in front of the was Konoha's resident Jinchuuriki. The boy looked a little worse for wear as several holes in his jacket revealed his orange undershirt and a multitude of twigs and branches laid resting in his hair. Regardless of his appearance, a huge smile was plastered across the child's face as he slowly approached the feline.

"C'mere little kitty. If I catch you before that genin team and take you back to the Old man, he'll have to graduate me early!" The boy half whispered/half shouted as he took several tentative steps towards the animal. Tora paid the child no mind as she now focused her attention on cleaning her fur from the dirt that had accumulated on it from their chase. Naruto, seeing the cat's attention was off of him, took the moment as an opportunity to strike as he dove at Tora. To the blond's utter disappointment, the cat took off running during the middle of his flight, leaving him without a target. The boy ended up landing face first, earning himself a face full of dirt as he came to a skidding stop.

"Get back here!" Naruto screamed as he quickly scrambled up to his feet and began chasing after the cat once again. The feline had somewhat of a head start on him but his longer strides allowed him to quickly make up the ground. The cat's brown fur made her body blend in rather well with the forest ground but the red ribbon tied around its ear made it easy to track for Naruto.

The boy cut a scathing path through the forest, swiping away at any low hanging branches or bushes that got in his way. The distance between him and Tora had been slowly closing with each step which only pushed the boy further. He took a particular large leap over a thick set of roots, placing him even closer to the cat. The creature was a brown blur against the ground as it agilely jumped over roots, dodged bushes and attempted to shake the blond. Though no matter what it tried, she couldn't shake the boy as Naruto got closer and closer to her.

"I got you now!" The blond yelled as he jumped from his feet, unknowingly repeating the same mistake he had just made minutes ago. Tora took notice of this fact as she swerved to the right, putting herself out of the airborne blond's path. A string of curses left the boy's mouth as he went flying headfirst through a set of bushes, completely losing sight of his target and granting himself another untimely meeting with his face and some dirt.

"That hurt a lot." Naruto grunted as he lifted his face from out the dirt. The blond knew that by now the speedy cat was far out of his reach. He had already spent an hour chasing after the damn thing and he honestly didn't feel like wasting yet another hour doing the exact same thing.

With the cat out of his focus, Naruto finally took the time to observe just exactly where he had ended up. The bushes he had passed through seemed to have made up part of the rim of a clearing as a large open area sat in front of him. The clearing stretched for a good hundred meters or so, being large enough to fit a platoon of shinobi. Towards the northern side of the clearing was a small pond. And sitting directly in the center of the pond was a bandana wearing man who was staring directly at the blond.

Their eyes met and a staring contest ensued. Childish mettle clashed with unwarranted young adult pride as neither male refused to look away from one another. A soft wind blew through the clearing, agitating the eyes of both competitors but still, both refused to back down.

It was only after a full two minutes before either competitor broke. Surprisingly, it was the older of the duo as the man released a curse before shutting his watery eyes. Naruto, seeing that he had won the impromptu staring contest, burst out into a loud series of celebration as he hopped excitedly around the clearing.

"I beat a ninja~ I beat a ninja~." The boy sang as he made his way around the clearing. Said ninja who had been so horribly bested by the blond released a soft sigh before rising to his feet. He let out a grunt before reaching into his pocket, procuring a senbon and immediately placing the weapon/medical tool between his teeth. He then directed his attention back to the blond who literally came flying head first into the clearing where he had been meditating. The boy was still riding the high of "beating a ninja" as he continued jumping and skipping around the clearing.

"What's your name, ninja-san?" The blond finally stopped his childish celebration in order to question the man. The man shot the boy a side glance before beginning to walk out the clearing at a leisurely place.

"Why should I tell you? All you're going to do is go around town bragging about how you 'beat me'". The men's tone was dismissive as he addressed the boy behind him. Because he was back was towards the blond, he didn't get to see the blush that covered the boy's face at being caught so easily. That was his exact reasoning for asking the question. He couldn't let the senbon-chewing man know that though.

"Nuh-uh! I just wanted to know for a rematch." He shouted to the retreating man. His words actually got the ninja to pause in his movements, placing a huge smile on the boy's face. He had managed to get him.

The man slowly turned to face him, his face a stoic mask as his eyes met Naruto's. The blond's grin persisted for only a few short seconds against the glare before it eventually crumbled underneath the men's look. The lack of emotion expressed on the ninja's face made Naruto believe that he may of annoyed the man just a bit too much. And no matter how much bravado he thought he had, he knew there was no way he could beat a real life ninja … at least without preparation time.

Unfortunately for him, there was absolutely no prep time as the man made his move. Unexpectedly, the his first move wasn't to start flashing through hand-signs or come charging towards him at a blinding speed. Instead, the man simply flipped the senbon with his teeth, ensuring that the blunt end of the weapon was facing the blond, before sending the tiny fragment of metal rocketing at the boy. A slight whistle rang out as the senbon cut through the air disguised as a nearly invisible blur. Naruto had absolutely no time to react before the weapon slammed into his forehead, sending him tumbling backwards into the grass as a loud yelp escaped from his lips.

Naruto laid motionless on the grass for several seconds as his childlike mind tried to wrap out what exactly had just occurred. He saw the ninja move the senbon with his mouth then there was a whistling in the air and then he was on the ground with a small bruise forming in the certain of his forehead. He was able to come to the conclusion that the man had somehow shot the senbon at him with his mouth which was still somewhat hard to believe. How could someone produce enough power to knock him down with just a senbon while using just their mouth?

"It must be why he is a ninja." Another grin overcame the blond's face as he came to that realization. This was what made ninjas so cool to the young child. Not only could they sneak around in the shadows and blow shit up with balls of fire, they could also do crazy stuff with just a senbon and their mouth. In the child's mind, that was the most badass thing he had ever seen. And naturally, he wanted to learn how to do it.

"Hey! Teach me how to do that!" An audible groan left the men's mouth at the blond's loud proclamation. He was hoping that his senbon would've been enough to at least stun the blond long enough for him to exit the clearing. Instead the boy's stubbornness made it so that he recovered fast enough to keep bothering the man.

"No." Was the men's simple response before he continued his walk out of the clearing. A frown instantly overcame the blond at being denied so easily. The man hadn't even stopped to think about his request before saying no. Though in the man's defense, Naruto hadn't really asked so much as demanded.

"Why not?" The blond asked, his frustration clear in his voice at being turned away so quickly. This time the man didn't even hesitate as he instead choose to dramatically disappear from the clearing in a small puff of smoke, leaving the blond all by himself.

The blond's agitation about being dismissed so casually only persisted for a couple of seconds before he managed to clear his head of it. That type of attitude was somewhat of the norm when it came to random encounters with villagers or shinobi. No one bothered to pay him much attention and the attention he received was usually of the bad kind.

"Whatever." The blond grumbled while he climbed up to his feet. He began to search the area around him with a renewed sense of vigor as a resolve formed in his head. If the stupid ninja wouldn't teach him how to do cool tricks with his senbon, he would just teach himself. He didn't need anyone to show him the works. He had gotten this far without help so it was only logical he could go even farther without it!

"I'm going to show that asshole how awesome of a student I would've been. Believe it!"

He just needed to find that damn senbon first.

* * *

"Goddamnit!" The blond choked back tears of frustration as he nursed his bleeding lip. Lying at his feet was a single bloody senbon that served as a reminder of his failure.

The better half of the blond's day had been spent attempting to recreate the cool trick that he had seen the nameless ninja perform. He had originally figured it would be easy enough recreate the simple senbon flip and launch since the man had done it with such ease.

He had been wrong. So horribly, horribly wrong. Holding the senbon between his teeth was simple enough. Trying to flip the senbon with his lips without poking himself proved to be a lot more difficult. The tiny specks of blood covering the ground beneath him made that pretty clear.

"Why is this so hard?" The blond huffed, clearly frustrated with his failure. Hours had been spent trying to get the technique down and nothing had come out of it. Nothing but pain and a busted lip. If he had been any lesser of a man … eh, child, he would've let loose a few tears. He hadn't already, of course! Ignore the stains on his cheeks.

Naruto was brought out of his pity party as the sound of rustling bushes reached his ears. He quickly bent down and hastily picked up the dulled senbon, mistakenly pricking his finger in the process. He held the weapon at eye level, his grip a shaky mess as the rustling from the bushes grew louder and louder. Fear gripped his young mind as he silently awaited for the person or thing to reveal itself.

Stumblin head first out of the bushes was a young teen with a full head of ash-grey hair. The boy literally tumbled head over heels into his clearing, his glasses being haphazardly thrown into the air as his roll ended with him painfully settled on his face. Naruto sat in shock and confusion as he watched the teenage pull his face from out the ground while giving off a pitiful groan. The headband hanging loosely around the boy's waist indicated that he was a ninja but Naruto was definitely not getting that "ninja-ey" sort of vibe from him. Especially as he watched the ninja crawl on his hands and knees in a rather pathetic attempt to find his glasses.

"Ohh my glasses. I can't see without my glasses." The boy moaned out while blindly searching for his glasses. It only took a quick glance from Naruto to find the pair of spectacles that were currently lying within arms length of the teen. The ninja seemed to be reaching out to every spot around him except for the area where his glasses were. The blond had to stop himself from outwardly calling the teen an idiot while he calmly walked over to the ninja and picked up his glasses.

"Uh.. Are you looking for these?" Naruto questioned while holding the glasses close enough so that the teen could see them. The blond's opinion of the boy went down even further as the ninja jumped a full feet in the air while letting out a loud scream before landing lamely on his ass. A soft whimper left his mouth as he began to rub his most likely injured behind before he finally took notice of Naruto who was still holding out his glasses.

"Oh, thank you so much!" The teen exclaimed while taking his glasses out of the young boy's hand. Naruto could only mutter a hesitant thank you as he watched the the grey-head put his glasses back on and stand back up to his feet.

"I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't found my glasses." The teen chirpy said while looking down at the confused blond. Naruto was still speechless as he looked back at the seemingly incompetent ninja. The way the teen carried himself was completely different than the senbon chewing guy. The bandana wearer had looked confident, albeit pretty lazy as well. The teen in front of him looked like he could barely hold a kunai.

Speaking of sharp and pointy metallic weapons, the teen's eyes fell upon the senbon that were still clutched between Naruto's finger. The teen's eyes seemed to light up in wonder as he took a commanding step towards the blond.

"Is that a senbon, my young friend? Are you trying to learn how to use one?" The ninja questioned with a strange amount of excitement laid within his voice. Naruto was initially taken back by the question and the teen's strange behavior but quickly recovered from his shock to respond.

"Yeah I am. I've been trying all day to do this really cool trick but nothing has been working." The blond settled back into his whiny mood as he angrily stared at 'his' senbon. His focus on the weapon was so intense that he failed to notice the subtle smirk that made its way to the ninja's face after his explanation.

"Well I happen to be a medical-nin in training and work with senbon constantly. Since I sort of stumbled into the middle of your training and interrupted, let me repay you back by teaching you a trick or two." Kabuto couldn't hold in the smirk that managed to force its way onto his lips as he watched the blond's eyes light up at his offer.

Naruto Uzumaki, impressionable young demon container who is constant ostracized by almost everyone around him, children and adult alike. He was also a target of an interest for his current master, Orochimaru also known as one of Konoha's biggest skeletons in the closet.

It seemed almost too easily, honestly. While being very outspoken and boisterous, the blond kept mostly to himself. Whether that was because of the boy's own choice or the action of the villagers, the young spy did not know and did not care to know. All he knew was that he was assigned to befriend and watch over the boy, and he would be damned if he failed such a sensitive mission.

"Hell yeah, I would like to learn! Oi! Are you going to teach me how to spit them really far? Or are you going show me how to throw them? Maybe catch them with my teeth? That would be so awesome. I can't wait to run around shooting senbon all over the place like a real ninja." The blond let his age show as he rambled on and on about all the cool stuff Kabuto was going to teach him. In front of him, the young teen chuckled silently to himself as he reached into his pocket to retrieve a small set of senbon.

This was going to be too easy.

* * *

"Take that! And that! And that!" Naruto punctuated each repeated word by throwing a senbon at his stationary but still somehow elusive targets aka the trees. The thin metal needles cut through the air, wobbling slightly as a sign of their user's inexperience. Despite the slight teetering in their flight, the needles struck true and stuck shallow within the bark of the tree.

"Hell yes!" The blond jumped into the air at the success of his throw. He had spent hours working with Kabuto to get concept of throwing senbon down and it seemed to have finally paid off. Throwing the tiny strips of metal was much harder than the blond had originally thought after seeing the bandana wearing ninja launch them so easily from his mouth. Kabuto had quickly cleared away any of his frustrations through his teachings however.

The metal needles were originally used for only medical purposes. Their thin design gave them little killing power, making them a very unlikely weapon. Fortunately for ninja, their use chakra and rather dangerous minds managed to think up a way to turn the acupuncture tools into weapons.

"Coat it in chakra, take aim then throw. Coat it in chakra, take aim then throw." The blond repeated the mantra that Kabuto had drilled into his head as he proceeded to throw out almost the entirety of his whole set of senbon, given to him, of course, by the grey-haired genin. A small smile unknowingly settled upon the child's face as one after another his senbon struck against the trees, some embedding wholly while others only stayed in for a few seconds before tumbling to the ground.

"Its only day one and I'm already so good at this!" The boy cackled to himself as he began to imagine all the cool stuff he would be able to do once he mastered the art of senbon throwing. He could just imagine taking out a whole squad of enemy ninja with just his tongue and some senbon.

"I'm going to be such a badass!" The blond mentally thought as he danced a little jig. His dancing was put to a quick halt as the sound of branches snapping reached his ears. He quickly turned towards the sound of the noise, his fingers unconsciously tightening around the last few of his senbon as Kabuto's training took hold. The blond's eyes narrowed in concentration as his eyes and ears followed the faint sounds.

"Hey! Whoever you are, get away. Im practicing my super secret technique and I don't want anyone stealing it!" Naruto yelled out loud, causing the noises to stop. The blond stood still for several seconds, straining his ears for any sign of the noises. After a full minute of silence, the boy relaxed in his stance as the reassurance that no one was spying and trying to take his senbon throwing moves. After all, he didn't want all of his hard work to go instantly down the drain because someone was being a lazy asshole.

The sound of rustling leaves immediately took away any reassurance that the blond had as he snapped his head towards the sound. A growl left his lips as he consciously gripped the remaining senbon in his pocket.

"Get away, asshole! Or you're going to get one of these things to the eye!" Naruto shouted out loud as he raised a senbon up for emphasis. Like before, the noises faded away at the sound of his voice. Unlike before, the blond decided to wait a full five minutes to see if the noise would start back up. The minutes ticked away with silence with each one passing making the child's frustration go further and further up. After the full five minutes, he decided to relax once again, mentally convincing himself that he was just hearing things. That was until he took a single step forward and heard the rustling sound once more.

"That's it!" The blond yelled, clearly frustrated, before whipping around and sending a single senbon flying towards the general direction of the sound. Due to his anger and relative lack of practice at the throwing technique, the senbon was very wobbly as it cut swiftly through the air. It seemed to sail true, however, as it disappeared into the surrounding brush. Not a second later, a sharpy cry echoed through the clearing, indicating that the blond had struck true. Though the boy couldn't even enjoy the fact that he had hit his first living target since the cry that his target made had been decisively female. A young female at that.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" The blond mentally screamed to himself as he dashed towards the direction where he had thrown his senbon. He could've just unknowingly hit and injured a little girl because he was acting too rash. Depending on where he hit the girl, he could've blind her or even killed her.

"Please be okay!" Naruto mumbled to himself as he dove head first into the bushes that made up the clearing boundary. His arms immediately went into a frenzy as he went about pushing any bushes or low hanging branches out of his ways as he dashed deeper into the forest. It didn't take him very long to find the unfortunate victim of his senbon as they were releasing sharp hisses while holding her forehead.

Hanabi Hyuga hadn't expected her spying session to end with her getting caught and injured. Honestly, after watching and observing the young blond for a small while, she had came to the conclusion that he was an idiot and being able to sneak up on him would be simple for someone of her skill.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she had been somewhat taken with the blond thief. The boy's flippant attitude was something she was generally not used to. Even within the confines of her clan's compound, respect was key among the clan members. Disrespect, especially from branch members, could lead to severe consequences. If any branch member had shown the same amount of disrespect the blond had shown her, the young heiress couldn't be sure if they would be alive the next day or not.

But even outside of her clan members, the girl was still shown a large amount of respect. So why hadn't the boy done the same thing? Was it because he was a thief? She hadn't ever met a thief up until her meeting with the blond so she couldn't really be too sure if his attitude was based on his "occupation". Though she sure as hell was going to try and find out.

That was why she was out here. That was why she had snuck away from her handler, again, and trotted so deep into the surrounding forests. That was why she was nursing the small bleeding wound that had found its way onto her forehead. Stupid reason? In retrospect while taking into consideration the slight stinging on her forehead, yes. But when you're fueled by boredom and childish curiosity, you sometimes do stupid stuff.

"Why were spying on me?" The sound and proximity of the boy's voice immediately tipped Hanabi off to the fact that she had been caught. Her pride stung a bit but she quickly pushed away the pain in order to look up at her 'assailant'. The blond was currently stood in front of her, his blond locks swaying lightly in the wind, with his fists placed on his hips. The expression on his face was most likely his attempt to try and look stern but due to his young features, it came off as being more constipated than anything.

"That is none of your concern." Hanabi cooly responded as she pushed herself off the ground onto her feet. The girl quickly dusted herself off before attempting to walk away the blond. Attempt is the keyword as Naruto stepped in the way of her path, blocking her from walking away.

"Nuh-uh! You were spying on me and I want to know why!" The blond demanded as he stood in Hanabi's path. Cerulean eyes met with lavender as the two children engaged in a staring contest. Stubborn confronted prudish as the two personalities battled for dominance.

"I don't have to tell a common thief like you anything." The heiress responded. As expected, the thief comment sent the blond off edge as a look of rage overtook his face.

"I am not a thi-" The blond cut himself off just as Hanabi reached over with his byakugan activated and tapped the middle of his leg. Within an instant after the small touch, he felt a numbness spread through his leg, making him collaspe to the floor. Seconds later, He heard the soft sound of feet smacking against ground as Hanabi took off running.

"Hey!" The blond yelled as he tried to rise to his feet. His initial effort was rewarded with a quick trip back to the ground as the numbness persisted through his leg. He tried again, this time being a lot more mindful of his leg's condition, and was greeted with mild success as he was able to rise to his feet. He took a tentative step towards the direction where the girl had ran and did not immediately collapse to the ground which served to put a smile on his face. That step turned into another then into a light jog which turned into a sprint as he rocketed towards the runaway Hyuga.

"A thief he may be, but he certainly isn't the brightest." Hanabi mused to herself as she ducked beneath a branch. Her get away from the blond had gone rather swimmingly considering the fact that she thought up the plan on the spot. She had expected some type of resistance from the older boy but certainly wasn't complaining now that she didn't get any.

"Must be from the Hyu- AH!" The girl's mental musings turned into a verbal scream as the blond she had thought she had just escaped from appeared directly in front of her. So shocked was the girl that she completely lost her footing mid-sprint, sending her hurtling towards the ground at full speed.

Naruto had to hold in a wince as the girl slammed into the ground with a resounding thump. His longer strides and naturally faster frame made it easy to catch up to the wayward girl. He had planned on dropping in on the girl's escape route, surprising her into screaming and getting a good laugh out of it. He did end up getting the scream but he didnt expect the fall to go along with it.

A sniffle. That was the sound that put the fear of Kami back into the blond's heart. The sniffle multiplied into several as Hanabi raised her head from the ground with tears slowly building up in her eyes. Naruto felt his hurt sink as the tears began to fall while a soft whimper left the girl's mouth.

"Ah! No, no, no, no! Not the crying!" Naruto shouted as he approached Hanabi. The blond's shouting did little to deter the girl's tears as they continued to freely fall from her eyes. The girl then proceeded to bury her head into her hands as the whimper turned into a full blown cry, sending the blond into a panic.

"Oh Kami! I'm so sorry. I didnt mean to get you hurt." The blond's words fell upon deaf ears as Hanabi continued to cry. The blond was now visibly shaken as he attempted to wrap his mind around something that would calm the girl.

"Ramen? Money? A pair of my goggles? No! Those won't work! Umm." The blond glanced down at the crying girl just as an idea struck him. It would end up costing him a bit of money but it would surely dull the pain the girl was feeling.

"Hey! Will you stop crying if I get you some ice cream?" The blond's attempt to calm the girl seemed to fail initially since her cries did not decrease in volume. But ever so slowly, the girl seemed to calm down as her tears stemmed away. After a full minute after Naruto had asked his question, the Hyuga looked up from her hands up towards the now relieved blond.

"Can I have more than one?" The girl asked expectantly in a devilishly innocent tone that completely contrasted against her previous behavior. The fact went unnoticed by the boy as he was too busy patting himself on the back for calming the young girl.

"I'm such a genius." Was the single thought running through the blond's head.

* * *

"So are you going to tell me why you were spying on me?"

"No."

"Damn it." Naruto sulked at the younger girl's cool response to his question. The unlikely duo were sat in a somewhat vacant ice cream bar. The afternoon sun was slowly descending through the sky, throwing an orange hue over the entirety of Konoha.

Naruto huffed slightly as he gazed over to the lightly bandaged Hanabi. The girl's expression was one of calmness and happiness as she eagerly licked away at her ice cream.

The bandages had come at the expense of Naruto's own wallet as he quickly deduced that it wouldn't be a good idea to be leading a bloody and bruised Hyuga heiress through the city. He had put it on the girl himself which would explain their patchwork appearance. They got the job done though and that was all that really mattered.

The girl's double stacked ice cream cone also came out the boy's wallet much to his current frustration. When they arrived, Naruto had expected to get himself a cone and the girl one too. Instead, Hanabi had demanded the most expensive cone and ice cream combination and refused to budge on the matter, leaving the blond damn near broke.

"You're such an asshole." Naruto mumbled beneath his breath, earning him a sharp side glance from the Hyuga. The girl lowered the ice cream from her mouth before giving an audible clearing her voice.

"At least I'm not a thief." The girl had to hold in a laugh as she watched the blond almost explode in his seat. It was too easy sometimes.

"I'm not a thief!" The blond shouted, earning him a harsh shushing from the owner. Naruto shot the irate woman a sheepish look and a soft apology before directing his attention back onto Hanabi, only to see that the duo had a guest.

"I've been searching for you for hours, Hanabi-sama." The same lavender eyed prick from before was now standing behind the Hyuga while sending a death glare towards Naruto. The blond was happy to return the look as he sat on his stool, allowing him to meet the older boy eye to eye.

"I'm sorry, Neji-san. I must've wandered off and lost track of time." Hanabi said cooly while sliding off of her seat. She sent Naruto a small glance before directing her gaze onto the older Hyuga.

"It's fine. Just next time, please try to stick close to me." The small girl offered him a nod before returning her attention back onto her ice cream. With his young charge now distracted, Neji returned to glaring at Naruto.

"I advise you to stay away from Hanabi-Sama, you trash." Naruto responded in the best way possible which was simply him raising his middle finger at the haughty Hyuga. The older male left off a soft "hn" before flipping his hair towards the blond then leading Hanabi out of the ice cream bar. Before the Hyuga duo could completely disappear from his sight, Hanabi glanced up from her ice cream to shoot Naruto a small glance before quickly disappearing into the crowded Konoha streets.

"Looks like you just got your girlfriend stolen from you, kid." Naruto quickly turned in his seat to face the amused looking shop owner. An indignant yell threatened to leave his lips but the blond managed to stifle it in order to not draw the ire of the woman once again. Instead, he settled with just slumping down onto the bar of the shop with a defeated and dejected look on his face.

"She's not my girlfriend." The blond mumbled beneath his breath. His words were still picked up by the woman as she released an amused chuckle while throwing a flippant "Whatever you say" back at the blond, causing him to release a loud groan before burying his head into his arms with a single thought running through his head.

Girls sucked.

* * *

 ** _AN: So here's another chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one. Will be answering pms and reviews for the next hour or so then more tomorrow. Good night/morning to you all!_**


	5. Chapter 5

"10 out of 10. Hell yeah!"

"Watch your language, Naruto!" The young child's verbal celebration was put to a quick end by Iruka. That didn't stop the inward joy he was feeling as he stared down at the target that stood over nearly a hundred meters away. Neatly embedded in the dead center of the target were ten kunai that had been thrown by the blond.

The entirety of his class stood out in the throwing range that laid behind the academy. A majority of the children stood close to the teacher, Iruka, as he sent a glare at Naruto. The blond blew a raspberry at the man in response before stepping away from the throwing platform and began to walk back towards the class.

It had been a week since his fateful meeting with the senbon-chewing ninja and Kabuto and things couldn't have been better. Every single day he had been meeting with the medical-nin-in-training and the boy had been infinitely helpful. Alongside improving his senbon throwing techniques, Kabuto had also helped him more with some of his practical skills. Simple things like proper running form, how to throw a punch, how to dress a wound, etc. Things that most kids knew beforehand going into the academy, but to Naruto it was information he was sorely ignorant to. And now that he knew this information, he was a hundred times more badass. He actually started winning some of his mock spars, he came in first in almost all of the sprinting exercises and he could throw kunai like it was nothing. The young child couldn't help but have an inflated ego at the rapid improvement that had taken place in his life.

"Naruto!" The boy was snapped out of his thoughts by the irritated sound of his teacher's voice. It seemed during his inner monologue he he had stopped walking, effectively blocking the platform entrance. Standing in front of him now was one irritated looking Ino Yamanaka. His fellow blond shot him a dirty look while he stepped out of the way. The boy had the decency to look somewhat sheepish as he trotted his way back over to the teacher.

The blond managed to get back over to Iruka just as Ino began to throw her first kunai. Naruto had to hold in a laugh at just how far off the knife was thrown. The weapon didn't even reach the bullseye as it buried itself almost a full dozen feet away from the target. The girl looked more than a little embarrassed at the throw as a couple of snickers rose from the crowd of students.

"Don't be nervous, Ino! Just keep your grip steady and your arm straight." Iruka shouted out to the girl before levelling a glare onto the giggling students. The students were quickly silenced by the teacher's look as Ino prepared to throw another kunai.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the submissiveness of his fellow children. It was a bit sad to him, honestly. Iruka was all bark and no bite. The man could look and say some pretty scary things but in actuality, he was a giant teddy bear. He wouldn't harm a hair on their head.

"Unless that hair belongs to a kid that skipped his class for three days in a row." The blond thought to himself as he began to rub at the phantom pains that manifested on the back of his head. The man had been especially ruthless that done when he discovered the blond in a clearing, training his senbon throwing. He had quite literally dragged the boy by his hair back to the academy in a fit of agitation. That definitely hadn't been fun. Kabuto's laughter during the situation hadn't made it better either.

The blond was snapped out of his thinking as his ears began to pick up a soft hum. He turned his head slightly and saw some students slowly beginning to inch their way away from the area around him. He turned his head further and saw the cause of the student's unease.

Shino Aburame, the enigmatic heir to the Aburame clan, was now stood directly behind him. And by directly behind him, he meant literally inches away. The blond would've been able to feel the fellow child's breath if the clan heir's high collar hadn't been in place. Instead, the blond was subjected to hearing the soft hum of the insects moving their way through the young male's body.

Shino was someone that Naruto didn't have much direct interaction with. Most of the interaction shared between the two were curiosity filled glances. The clan heir faced a level of social ostracization within the academy that was only second to Naruto's, yet the boy didn't show any level of discomfort. Instead he seemed to bear it all with a silent air of apathy. Even when the girls pointed and screamed 'ew', Shino seemed to shrug it all away. The boy seemed to prefer the company of none anyway.

So why exactly was he standing an uncomfortable distance behind the blond? Naruto didn't know but he intended to find out. The boy turned to meet his fellow male eye to eye only to look into the heir's sunglasses. The humming coming from him seemed to rise slightly before settling back down.

"Whatcha want?" As usual, the blond was extremely blunt in his questioning. It didn't seem to ruffle Shino much as the boy remained silent while maintaining eye contact with the Jinchuuriki.

The impromptu staring contest between the duo lasted for several seconds before Shino unexpectedly rose his arm into the arm, causing Naruto to jerk back suddenly as if under attack. With his arm in the air, the clan heir's sleeve succumbed to the effects of gravity and drooped down, revealing what remained underneath. If the surrounding students hadn't been scared before, they were definitely scared now as rows and rows of crawling insects could be seen travelling along the boy's arm.

"My bugs." Shino started off with his attention focused on his outstretched arm. The bugs seemed to respond to his gaze as they began to circle around the center of his limb. "They won't eat you."

Naruto had heard some pretty strange and messed up things in his life but the sentence that his fellow classmate just said took the cake. The tone that it was said in really added the creepy factor to the phrase.

"What the hell?" The blond verbalized as he slowly began to back away from Shino. His actions were put to a stop when the heir's attention suddenly shifted onto him. Even though his eyes were hidden by his sunglasses, Shino's stare still managed to stop the normally overhyped blond in his tracks.

"The dead skin on you. For some reason my bugs won't eat it. You scare them. Why?" The child explained while maintaining eye contact with Naruto. The explanation served to ease how creeped out he was feeling, but only by a tiny bit. He was aware of the Aburame clan and their affinity towards bugs. He just didn't think they or their bugs actually ate people. Dead skin was a much better alternative than whole, live people. Still creepy as hell though.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask your bugs?" The blond's childish bravado returned to him as he responded to Shino. The male duo continued their staring contest for several more seconds before Shino lowered his and promptly turned away from Naruto. Not a single more word was exchanged between the duo as the Aburame disappeared into the crowd, leaving a very confused blond behind.

"What the hell just happened?"

* * *

When one looked at Genma Shiranui, they don't exactly get much. The man looked lackadaisical at best and completely lazy at his worse. His hunched shoulders, hands in his pocket and senbon chewing gave him a very lax disposition. No one would've been able to guess that he was once on the same team as Might Guy. No one would've been able to guess that he was a tokubetsu jounin. And no one would've been able to guess that he was a part of Fourth Hokage's elite guard.

Yes, he honestly looked that lazy. And honestly that was the way he wanted it. He was a casual, easygoing guy. Being serious was a waste of energy to him. Making jokes during serious situation had become one of his hobbies because of this line of thinking. It had gotten him in a load of trouble with his superiors but it sure did lighten up the situation.

All of this is said to demonstrate the fact that Genma was a man who didn't care much. There weren't many things in life he took that seriously.

" _Maybe that's why none of my relationships ever worked out_." The man couldn't help but snort out from his position high up in one of Konoha's many trees. He liked to lounge about in them during his down time. But at the moment he wasn't lounging about. He was actually observing a duo of people.

As one of the Fourth Hokage's guardsmen, Genma had been privy to a lot of the men's personal life. That included that his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, had been pregnant and in the process of delivering her child during the Kyuubi's attack. After all, he was part of the guard that had been given the duty of protecting her during the birth.

The failure to uphold that duty still struck at him even to this day. Kushina and Minato had been his friends yet he didn't come through for them when it mattered most. His failure had cost them their lives and the life of their child.

Well, the second part of that statement wasn't completely true. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze was alive and somewhat well. The fact that he was currently training with Kabuto showed that was true. Genma knew, though, that the blond hadn't had the life that his parents would've wanted for him. Kushina would've gone on a rampage if she was alive to see how her 'baby' had been raised.

In all honesty, Genma hadn't even recognized the blond when he had came stumbling into the clearing. He thought the kid was just another annoying brat that was trying to ruin his day. If he had known who the kid's parents were, he would've toned his personality down a bit for a kid. Maybe shown him a trick or two instead of attacking him.

"Too late for 'ifs'." Genma reminded himself of one of his many mottos as he continued to look over the male duo. He had missed his initial opportunity but more were sure to come. The boy seemed to be in good hands for right now. So for now he would wait. He had already missed out on the first couple years of the kid's life so a few more weeks wouldn't hurt him, right?

* * *

The sunset was quite beautiful, he couldn't help but note. The somewhat muted chirping of birds in the distance gave the landscape a very picturesque feeling to small breeze that blew against his back only seemed to highlight this. A very small, almost non-existent portion of him debated just sitting down to enjoy the scene in front of him. Blowing away all of his worries for a couple of days just to enjoy the sunset.

That part of him was squashed under immediately as a tussle of silver hair came over the horizon. The man couldn't help but lick his lips at the sight of his subordinate. Nature's beauty could not compete with the information the boy undoubtedly had with him. Even Kami wouldn't be able to distract him.

"You're late." His voice was a strange mixture of raspy and husky as it came out his lips. It was one of the reasons he chose this body. He could almost taste the fear rolling off of his subordinates' body when he spoke. Fear kept them in place. Fear secured their loyalty and fear would make sure it stayed with him.

"I apologize, Orochimaru-Sama." Kabuto bowed his head as he spoke. The snake sannin couldn't help but smirk at the boy's subservient. The boy's loyalty was a treasure that he would've never expected to just stumble upon. He would have to thank Danzo for basically sending him the boy on a silver platter. No one could say that the old hawk wasn't good at pumping out talent. Utilizing it though … that was a completely different story.

"Your apologies are unneeded as long as you have done your job." The man spoke, prompting Kabuto to raise his head. The young boy had been around his master long enough to realize when the man wanted him to speak.

"Of course. Naruto-san has been showing progress for someone so young. The boy takes to learning like a fish to water. Its quite amazing. I haven't taught him anything too advanced but it's only a matter of time." Kabuto let a chuckle slip past his lips at the thought of his excitable young charge. Normally, a slip of emotion during a mission report would result in some sort of punishment but Orochimaru was too lost in his thoughts to care.

Uzumaki Naruto. Just the thought of the boy sent a shiver of excitement down the men's spine. Son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze. And better yet, the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. The amount of potential inside of that little boy's delicate body was enormous. It was beautiful, in a sense. The raw power that brought the arguably strongest hidden village to its knees and killed one of the most powerful ninjas to ever live was now stuck within a child. A child with the potential to harness and wield it all as if it was his to begin with.

Oh, what he wouldn't give to have such power at such a young age. The idea of taking the boy and occupying his body had crossed his mind several occasions. But, despite his zealous approach to power, he knew it wouldn't work. He was there the Kyuubi attacked his home village. He saw the Shinigami with his own eyes. Even with recent advancements in his curse seal, he wasn't arrogant enough to believe it would stand up to the might of the death god's power. Plus, Minato would have surely added some sort of backup measure to ensure the safety of his son. He may of detested everything the man stood for, but that didn't mean he would doubt his genius. He had no plans on testing his newly improved curse seal against Minato's genius and the Shinigami's power.

So the option of taking the boy's body was out of the picture. It was a loss, but still manageable. That didn't leave the boy out of the picture all together. It would be a sin for him to just ignore all of that potential and power just because he couldn't have it for himself. The boy was young. He was impressionable, ready to be molded by anything that passed his way. His former sensei had done a wonderful job of not leaving too many influences of the child. A lack of friends, idols and mentors left the boy modifiable. That made his plans that much easier.

"Wonderful." The shinobi spoke after a long silence. He gave a dull glance towards Kabuto before digging into one of the folds of the kimono. When he withdrew his hand, a scroll was now in its grasp. He gave the scroll a long glance before tossing it at his subordinate.

"Give this to the child when you see him again. Tell him that it's from a benefa- … No. Tell him it's from his guardian angel." The grin stretched across his face spoke plenty of what the man was thinking. Kabuto didn't question his master's intentions as he pocketed the scroll. He simply offered the man a small bow before disappearing into the treeline.

Left alone once again, Orochimaru returned his attention back towards the sunset. The sun had feel enough so that only the tip of it was visible. A brilliant violet had filled the sky. He found his attention lost within the intricacies of nature once again.

Soon, it would all be his.

Naruto Uzumaki would make sure of that.

* * *

A dull thud reached Genma's senses and awakened him from his sleep. The man was almost immediately sent tumbling out of the tree after mistakenly believing the plant life to be his bed and trying to climb out of it. He quickly righted himself with a quick usage of his chakra before beginning to take note of his surroundings.

"Must've fallen asleep." He mumbled to himself as he scanned the now dimly lit training ground. The sun had retreated from the sky and the moon was now in its place, providing a very dim light onto the village. It was through this light that Genma was able to spot Naruto's prone form laying face down in the grass.

"Kid probably passed out from training. Or Kabuto slit his throat and left him here to die." The ninja chuckled to himself as his morbid sense of humor got the better of him. He quickly descended out of the tree and approached Naruto. From up close, he could clearly see that the child was breathing, eliminating the possibility of a Kabuto based murder.

"Ah shit. This is a problem." He muttered out loud as he stood over top of Naruto's body. The man had hit a sort of moral brick wall. The moral part of him dictated that he pick the boy up and carry him home. The problem was that he had absolutely no idea where the kid live. So the lazy part of him, the part that demanded he just leave the kid here and go home to hop into his bed and continue his sleep, was currently winning out.

"Well kid, I have no idea where you live and I honestly don't feel like actually talking to you so it looks like you'll be spending the night out here." The man said before turning his back on the sleeping child. He managed to take two steps away from Naruto before a series of rustling bushes stopped him in his tracks.

"I know where he lives." Of all the people he expected to be out in the middle of the forest during the night, a Hyuuga was definitely at the bottom of that list. Especially since this particular Hyuuga was a heiress to the clan and was usually accompanied by some type of guard. To see the small child all alone was somewhat of a shock to the man.

"What?" Genma responded in the only way his shock induced brain could respond. His question earned him an eyeroll from the girl before she haughtily pointed at Naruto.

"I know where he lives. I can show you." Hanabi responded snappishly. Genma blinked owlishly at her statement, his mind not quite sure on how to process the situation. So many questions were swirling through it at the moment and some of those questions he honestly didn't want the answer to.

" _I can already tell being around you is going to be such a pain in the ass._ " The shinobi mentally said to himself as he glanced down at Naruto. With a long sigh, he walked back over to the boy, roughly picked him up from the ground, slung him over his shoulder and turned back to the young girl.

"Well. Lead on." Now it was Hanabi's turn to be shocked at the men's utter casualty at the situation. She only allowed the shock to plague her for just a moment before quickly wiping it from her mind and marching towards Naruto's apartment with two males in tow.

* * *

"Should I be concerned that you know where he lives? I know the kid lives alone so..." The odd trio were about five minutes into their journey and even the usually laid-back Genma couldn't help but question the situation he had somehow found himself in. Being led through the streets of Konoha by someone more than a decade younger than him felt weird. Especially when he already had another kid slung over his shoulder as if he was a deer he had shot and captured.

Hanabi rounded on the man with a furious expression on her face. Well, it would've come off as furious if the girl wasn't blushing and also wasn't the men's junior by more than a couple years. So, instead of intimidating the man, her poignant glare only made him chuckle in response which only seemed to anger the girl even further.

"No! Its not like that. Dont you dare insinuate something so vile." Hanabi snapped back. The raised eyebrow from Genma clearly stated that the man didn't believe a single word that just left the girl's mouth. Realizing that she wasn't going to convince the man, the young heiress faced forward once again.

" _Ahhh kids. Sometimes they're almost too easy to mess with_." Genma mused as he shifted Naruto to a slightly more comfortable position on his shoulder. He could remember Guy and Ebisu acting the exact same when they were on a team together. All you had to do to get Guy riled up was offer the man any sort of physical challenge or challenge his manhood. For Ebisu, all you had to do was call the boy a pervert. It was a rather comical sight to see the duo freak out.

" _And look how they turned out_." Genma gave a slight shiver at the thought of his two former teammates. Guy had taken his physicality and manliness to an extreme level that made damn near unapproachable at times. And Ebisu … Genma didn't want to even get started on him. The man had taken the definition of closet pervert to a whole new level. He was just as unapproachable as Guy at times with his peeping and hypocritical uptightness.

"I hope these kids don't turn out as bad as my teammates." Genma thought to himself as he eyed Hanabi. He saw that the girl was now facing him again with an expectant look on her face. The shinobi stared at her for a bit, prompting her to release an annoyed huff before pointing behind her. The senbon chewer glanced behind the girl to see that they were now stood in front of a somewhat quaint looking home.

"Damn, the kid lives here by himself" Genma couldn't help but comment as he ran his eyes over the exterior of the building. The boy couldn't of been more than a dozen years old, yet he was living in a two-story house by himself? He couldn't imagine managing the same thing when he was that age. He barely knew how to wash his own clothes back then.

" _All by himself_? _Thats impressive ... and a bit sad._ " Genma was beyond bewildered and was beginning to feel a bit guilty as the pieces of the kid's life fell into place around it. It was becoming very clear to him that saying the blond hadn't had a simple life was being a little light.

"This is it. Can I leave now?" The young girl responded impatiently as the man's silence stretched on a bit too long for her liking. Genma rolled his eyes at the girl before approaching the complex's doors.

"You can leave whenever you want. No one ever said you had to come in the first place. If you remember correctly, you volunteered for this. I can only assume so you could say goodbye to your little boyfriend." Genma shot back over his shoulder as be began to fish through the blond's pockets for a key. He missed the angry expression that made its way onto the girl's face and her subsequent temper tantrum as she stomped. Seconds later, his fingers wrapped around his coveted items right before he pulled them out of their hiding place.

A bit of shuffling and maneuvering of Naruto on his shoulder later, and Genma was now inside of the blond's house. The living room was pretty average. It was as clean as one could expect a young boy to keep it. Genma knew he probably wouldnt of done much better as a kid if he was in Naruto's position. There was some trash lying around and some things looked to be in crappy conditions, but it wasn't anything too bad.

After examining the room, Genma quickly strode across its length and entered the only hallway of the house. It didn't take much to find the blond's bedroom. It was in pretty similar condition as the living room. There was a lot of scrolls spread throughout the room, most likely covering some ninjutsu theory or taijutsu forms. The shinobi didn't pay them too much mind as his eyes immediately locked on to the boy's bed. With a slight grunt and a bit of exertion, Genma lifted Naruto from his shoulder and deposited him on the bed.

"That's done with." Genma said out loud once the blond landed on his bed. The man hesitated for a second before turning and leaving the room. The man managed to make his way out of the kid's room and to the main door before he hesitated once again. He gave an unsure look back at Naruto's bedroom before glancing back at the open doorway. That pit of guilt in his stomach seemed more apparent than ever as he debated leaving the child alone. His hesitation turned into a full minute as an internal debate roared within him.

"Fuck it." The man said as he shut the door.

He didn't feel like walking home anyway.

* * *

"Get away from me!" Naruto's screams rang throughout his apartment as he shot upright in his bed. The boy's eyes were dilated as he swung his head wildly around the room. A haze of confusion was clear on the blond's face as he soaked in the sight of his own room. It took several seconds for his brain to catch up with vision as he finally seemed to calm down. His breathing slowed, and his pupils widened to a normal size as he realized where he was.

"Stupid dream." The blond mumbled beneath his breath as he hopped out of his bed. He attempted to put the disturbing mental images he had just experienced past him as he examined his room. He definitely didn't remember walking home and falling asleep. The last thing he remembered was training Kabuto.

"Looks like you're awake." Naruto would never admit it but he released a horribly high pitched screech at the sound of the foreign voice. Once he emptied his lungs, he turned towards the sound of the voice only to see a random person standing in his doorway.

"What the hell?" The blond exclaimed as he scrambled up to his feet. He reached down to his side to retrieve a kunai, but found himself woefully under supplied. He looked back up to see the man still standing in his doorway, looking rather bored as he stared down at the blond. His mind vaguely made the connection that this was the same senbon chewing man he had met a while ago just moments before he began to speak.

"What are you doing in my house?!" Naruto yelled at the expressionless man stood in front of him. He was greeted with a nonchalant shrug that only served to drive him deeper into his confusion and agitation. Who the hell was this guy? What gave him the right to invade his personal space like this?

"I didn't feel like walking home after dragging you here." This was the guy who brought him home. His anger lessened to a great extent at this revelation. Even with his childish stubbornness, he couldn't be too mad at the guy who saved him an unpleasant night sleeping in the middle of the forest.

"Oh…" Naruto responded, much more subdued. The boy was at a loss for words. A part of him wanted to still be agitated with the man for invading his bedroom. The other part of him rationalized that the man had taken him home, so the least he could do was not be a dick to him. In the end, the more logical side of him won out as he began to address the man.

"Well … Thank you, I guess." The blond said bashfully before the room descended into silence. The young boy was at a lost of words while Genma seemed contempt with remaining silent. The silence lasted for an agonizing minute before the blond decided to break it.

"So … are you going to leave now?"Naruto questioned. It was already weird that the man had stayed somewhere, Kami only knows where, in his house while he slept. Now, the guy looked as if he had no plans on leaving. Honestly, it looked as if he was ready to fall back to sleep any second. The yawn that he released seconds earlier certainly didn't help his appearance.

"Don't you at least want to know who the guy is that dragged your ass here?" The man's voice came out in a lazy drawl as he spoke. Naruto blinked owlishly at the response. He begrudgingly admitted to being somewhat curious about the guy in front of him. The creepy factor outweighed his curiosity but only by a little.

"Good point. Who exactly are you, mister?"

"Oh me? I'm just some guy." Naruto was absolutely floored by the his answer. After being goaded into questioning him, the blond had expected to get a proper introduction and explanation him. Instead, he got some bullshit answer. He couldn't help but feel slighted and pretty pissed off by it all.

"Just some guy? What type of answer is that? You can't just stay in someone's house and not gi-" The blond's rant was put to a quick end when Genma began to chuckle. The young boy's anger turned into confusion as the shinobi's chuckle turned into a full blown laugh. It continued on for a full minute for the man eventually calmed down enough to speak again.

"I'm sorry, kid. It's just too easy sometimes. Getting people riled up is sort of my thing." Genma chuckled at the dumbfounded look on the blond's face. Those were the expressions he lives for. The completely confused, absolutely baffled, 'I have no idea what's going on' look was absolutely priceless.

Genma quickly silenced his laughter as he visibly saw Naruto's patience fading away. He didn't need to deal with an irate brat at the moment. Especially when said brat was his former leader's son and his self proclaimed future charge. So with this in mind, the man straightened up and levelled his gaze on Naruto. A small smirk wormed its way onto his laps when he saw the blond freeze up beneath his look.

"Kid, My name is Genma Shiranui. I guess you could call me an old family friend."

The shocked look he received in return told him all he needed to know. He had most likely said something he probably shouldn't of said.

Oh, well. He didn't like secrets anyway.

* * *

 **AN: Whoa. Its been a while. Sort of been occupied with a bunch of stuff. I'll try to make sure future updates don't take so long. Anyways, thats really it. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Review with any questions, concerns, comments, etc.**

 **Also, I'm looking for an illustration for A Simple Teenage Shop Owner. Message me if you're an artist and interested in drawing something up.**

 **Only requirement: Just know I can't pay you**


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